The Parting Glass
by DragonSlayer400
Summary: Its been years since the entire group of regulars at Fairy Tail all got together. They reunite to reminisce on how their lives used to be and to catch up on where everyone is now. During this happy time, they get some not so happy news. Now they can only hope that they'll make it through this. Fairy Tail AU
1. The Parting Glass

I unfortunately do not own Fairy tail. Character credit goes to Hiro Mashima.

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"Tabasco-breath better get here soon. He's the one that called us all to meet up here" Gray said to everyone sitting at the table.

"Well we are here slightly earlier than he said he'd be here" Lucy said while thinking for a reason as to why Natsu asked them all to show up at Fairy Tail tonight.

"Very true Lucy, but I do wish he'd hurry up. Although I am enjoying catching up with everyone. It seems like ages since everyone has gathered together like this" said Erza.

"Yeah," Mirajane said, "The last time we all got together like this was for our joint graduation party three years ago, and even then it was Master and Natsu that made sure everyone showed up."

Erza hummed in agreement. "That was nice of him, especially since he had to take time off from the military to help set up."

"Hey guys!" Levy exclaimed as she walked in the doors.

Everyone in the restaurant turned to the door and welcomed Levy and Gajeel warmly. The recently married couple managed to catch up with those that hadn't been able to make their wedding before sitting with their tight-knit group of friends.

"I feel like it's been forever since we all got together like this" Levy said once she finally got to sit down.

"We were just saying the same thing!" Lisanna exclaimed. "It's so nice to see everyone again. Especially little Asuka, she's grown too much for my liking."

"Yeah, makes yah feel kinda old huh?" Lucy asked chuckling.

"Well you girls aren't getting any younger, so when are you settling down?" Mira asked, directing the question at Lisanna, Lucy, Erza, Cana, Kinana and Laki. The latter two just happening to be at the next table over.

"Oh come on Mira, this was supposed to be a fun get together. Not another interrogation of our love lives" Lucy whined with Lisanna nodding in agreement.

"Yes, well I'm just curious if any of you single girls have found someone yet" Mira stated. "At least Juvia, Kinana and Erza are in committed relationships that could lead to marriage sooner rather than later." A statement to which Gray groaned audibly while Juvia got hearts in her eyes and went into her own imaginary wedding between her and Gray.

"Yes, Jellal and I have been talking about marriage a bit recently. He still hasn't proposed, but now at least we both feel we are in a position where we could afford to be married" Erza informed them.

This got some of the girls to squeal, while the guys tried to cover their ears in time.

"Can Salamander get here already? I don't really want to sit through this conversation for the hundredth time" Gajeel said to Gray.

"I know, the idiot probably isn't watching the time..again.." Gray sighed. "But at least he was able to get all of us together."

"Well the runt better show up or I'll just have to have a little talk with his CO" Laxus said darkly.

"Oh come now honey, you know Natsu hasn't missed a party in his life" Mira replied while putting a hand on his forearm.

"Yeah, He's too egotistical to miss something as big as this where he could be the center of attention" Gray chuckled. The rest laughed at that and began to reminisce about how in high school Natsu would always try to be the center of attention, and then again when he'd visit any of them at college.

The group quieted down when they heard the doors open once more and were slightly shocked at what they saw. From the open doors in walked Igneel, Grandine, and Wendy obviously looking around for their son/brother.

"Wendy! Igneel! Grandine! How lovely to see you again!" Lisanna exclaimed as she and the others got up to embrace the Dragneel family.

"Oh it's been so long since we've seen some of you! How are you all doing?" Grandine asked the group as a whole. "And of course congratulations to the newly weds" Grandine said smirking at Levy and Gajeel.

"Yeah, we're sorry you couldn't make the wedding, but we were glad that Natsu and Wendy were able to make it. We were actually worried that you all would be too busy" Levy told them.

"Oh no, of course Natsu and I would make time to see some of our closest friends get married! And the ceremony was beautiful Levy!" Wendy said excitedly with a faint blush since she was now the center of attention. "Even Natsu was telling me how he would hate himself if he missed it!"

"Speaking of my idiot son, have any of you seen him?" Came the deep voice of Igneel.

"No, we were hoping that he'd be here by now, but you know how your son likes to make an entrance" Lucy said with a smile. Everyone chuckled at that.

"Oh of course I remember how he likes to embarrass himself at every opportunity" Igneel said while laughing.

"Do any of you know why he called us all down here tonight?" Lisanna asked curiously.

"No, we're just as much in the dark as the rest of you" Grandine informed them with a small smile. "But I hear that Zeref and Mavis are coming as well."

"No way!" Wendy yelled, surprised. "We haven't seen Zeref in years with him being a big shot doctor in Crocus! Always too busy to do much more than skype with us on occasion so we can see his face."

"Speak of the devil and he shall arrive, here they come now. And it looks like they brought August!" Mira exclaimed with stars in her eyes because another baby is being brought to their old hang out spot.

"Hello Fairy Tail!" Mavis yelled out as soon as she came through the doors.

"MAVIS!" was the collective response from everyone in the restaurant. It had been years since anyone had seen her in person and she was always so well loved, so everyone was happy to see her. They were also excited to see Zeref, but he wasn't loved to the same extent his wife was.

"Hehehe hi everyone! It's so good to be back! I'm so glad i get to see all of your smiling faces again!" Mavis exclaimed while looking around at everyone that's gathered. She sees the Conbolts, Wakaba, the Connells, the bigger group of friends that was embracing her in-laws, Reedus, Max, Warren, the Thunder Tribe, Elfman, Nab, Vijeeter, Cana, Gildarts, Makarov, Jet Droy, Loke, Laki, Aries, and even Porlyusica have gathered for this party.

"It will never get old seeing how much everyone loves you dear" Zeref laughed while shaking his head.

"Don't be jealous Zeref, we're happy to see you too" Lucy told him while smirking as she walked up to the little family.

"Lucy! Hi!" Mavis exclaimed as she pounced on the busty blonde in a hug.

"Hahaha hey Mavis!" Lucy laughed back as she held the smaller woman close.

"Aren't you just the cutest thing!" Mira said with eyes honed in on August.

The boy didn't seem to like too much attention though as he buried his head into his father's shoulder.

"Auntie Mira! I thought I was the cutest thing ever!" came the voice of Asuka Connell as she pouted.

"Oh Asuka, you both are super adorable!" Mira exclaimed while grabbing the young girl and snuggling with her, causing the young girl to giggle.

"Hehehe okay, okay I guess we can both be cute!" Asuka said with a big smile that got everyone else smiling at her.

"I-I'm not cute!" August stammered. "I'm handsome!"

"Of course you are sweetie" Grandine said while she walked over to embrace her son and grandson. August's outburst reminded everyone of how another Dragneel used to say the same thing when he was younger.

 _ **Flashback**_

" _Oh Natsu are you gonna cry?" A younger Mirajane asked after she just finished teasing a younger Natsu._

" _I am not crying!" Natsu yelled._

" _Natsu, you're so cute!" Mira exclaimed._

" _I'm not cute! I'm handsome! Get it right!" Natsu yelled in the middle of Fairy Tail for all to hear as he ran away._

 _ **Flashback end**_

"Oh it's so good to have all you brats back here. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I missed all of yah!" Makarov yelled out to which he got a roar of approval from everyone.

"I wonder why Natsu decided to get everyone together again like this… He could've sworn no one wanted to talk to him anymore" Wendy mumbled to herself, but was just loud enough for a few others to hear her.

"What was that Wendy?" Erza asked, shocked to hear that Natsu feels that way.

"I-I didn't say anything!" Wendy exclaimed with a slight blush.

"What do you mean Natsu feels like we don't want to talk to him anymore?" Mira asked. This got a few people close by to stop and give their undivided attention to Wendy, which made the poor girl blush the color of Erza's hair.

"I-It's just th-that n-no one r-reaches out to him unless they n-need s-something" Wendy stuttered while looking at her feet.

"That's not…" Erza started, but soon realized that there might be some truth to what Wendy said.

"That's not true Wendy" Lucy said, "I still see him at least once a week."

"Well yeah, but…" Wendy started then thought better of it, "I guess you're right"

"If Wendy doesn't know what the deal is then I'm really curious. He usually tells her everything" Igneel said 'quietly', or as quietly as his booming voice would allow. This got many of the other people present to start their own conversations about what Natsu could possibly want with them. Erza, however, is thinking hard about what Wendy said.

' _When was the last time I reached out to Natsu just to talk?'_ Erza thought to herself. She couldn't remember. Not since high school or occasionally during a college break would she reach out to Natsu to talk. He generally reached out to her once a month to stay updated on her life. ' _Did I really not notice how this must have made him feel? I'm sure everyone else did the same thing to him after we all went to the same university. We were able to stay in touch because we almost all saw each other everyday. I can't believe we just abandoned him like that.'_ Erza thought while biting down on her thumb nail. Erza being so quiet caught the attention of Mira, who slid over to see what was bothering the red haired beauty.

"What's wrong Erza?" Mira asked slightly worried.

"I just… I'm thinking back to what Wendy said. I don't think I've been the one to reach out to Natsu since the summer of our sophomore year of college" Erza said with a frown. This made Mira think back and she discovered that she too seemed to have only been kept up to date on Natsu by either him reaching out or Lisanna talking about him.

"I-I think it's the same for me" Mira hesitantly replied with a frown. "The only time I remember recently reaching out is when I needed help with something and both Elfman and Laxus were busy with work. He didn't act any different so I didn't think anything had changed between us."

"We'll just have to make it up to him and try to be better about this in the future. Our friendship with Natsu is too important to let it fade away" Mira said determined to make it up to the young man.

"You're right. I'd feel lost without him in my life at all. He's made a big impact on me especially since we've all been together since we were kids" Erza replied with a smile but the same determination in her eyes..

As she turned to walk away, Mira got a text message that she curiously opened since it was from Natsu.

 **Hey Mira, did you bring your guitar like I asked?**

 **Yeah Natsu. What do I need it for?**

 **Well I think it's high time we played that little song for everyone that we used to practice when we were younger.**

Mira's eyes widened after she read that.

 **Really Natsu?! This will be such a good surprise.. But isn't the song a little sad for something like this?**

 **Yeah, but it'll make sense as the night goes on. I'll be there in 5 Mira and I'm coming thru the stage door so we can get right to it.**

 **Got it.**

With that Mira went over to her guitar and stealthily made her way on the stage where she went behind the curtain and tuned the guitar. After she was satisfied, she took a stool and brought it out to sit on while she played. She heard the door open behind her, the mic turn on, and the curtains started opening, which signalled Mira that Natsu was ready. So Mira started playing a tune that is very familiar to her as she played it at least once every other week while she and Natsu practiced when they were in high school. Hearing a guitar playing, everyone quieted down and turned toward the stage to see Mira playing her guitar. What they didn't expect was Natsu's voice to come over the speakers to sing along with what she was playing.

 _Of all the money that e'er I had_

 _I spent it in good company_

 _And all the harm I've ever done_

 _Alas, it was to none but me_

 _And all I've done for want of wit_

 _To memory now I can't recall_

 _So fill to me the parting glass_

 _Good night and joy be to you all_

 _So fill to me the parting glass_

 _And drink a health whate'er befalls_

 _Then gently rise and softly call_

 _"Good night and joy be to you all"_

 _Of all the comrades that e'er I had_

 _They're sorry for my going away_

 _And all the sweethearts that e'er I had_

 _They'd wish me one more day to stay_

 _But since it fell into my lot_

 _That I should rise and you should not_

 _I'll gently rise and softly call_

 _"Good night and joy be to you all"_

 _Fill to me the parting glass_

 _And drink a health whate'er befalls_

 _Then gently rise and softly call_

 _"Good night and joy be to you all"_

By this time Natsu is standing next to Mira on stage holding a microphone. Everyone is stunned by the fact that Natsu is singing a song that sounds like he's already leaving after just getting there. But what really threw them for a loop was the fact that they then heard bagpipes out of nowhere while Natsu was singing _Da da da_.

 _But since it fell into my lot_

 _That I should rise and you should not_

 _I'll gently rise and softly call_

 _"Good night and joy be to you all"_

 _So fill to me the parting glass_

 _And drink a health whate'er befalls_

 _Then gently rise and softly call_

 _"Good night and joy be to you all"_

 _"Good night and joy be to you all"_

Everyone was still surprised by Natsu's entrance until the Dragneels started clapping for the performers. This woke everyone else up and they all started hooting and cheering for the duo. Then one voice yelled over the crowd, "glad to see you finally decided to show up fire freak!"

"What was that you perverted stripper?" Natsu snapped, "Why're you even here?"

"Why am I… I'm here because I was told to be by you you dumbass!" Gray yelled with a visible tick mark above his left eye.

"Gray there are children present!" Erza hissed at him which made him cower behind Juvia.

"Juvia" Natsu whined, "I thought I told you to leave him home!"

"If Juvia remembers correctly Natsu told her to 'make sure ice-princess comes so everyone else can see the selfish prick'" Juvia said with a smile as everyone laughed at the slightly embarrassed Natsu.

"Yeah well I heard he was too busy for his friends recently and I knew everyone wanted to catch up with the whole group so.." Natsu replied while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"So my boy" Makarov started, "mind telling everyone why you gathered us? Everyone's been takin bets as to why."

"Well the main reason is it's been awhile since we've seen everyone together like this right Gramps?" Natsu said with a smile.

"You're as cheeky as ever Natsu. I was kinda hopin the Marines would've whipped that outta yah" Makarov said with a smirk.

"Nah, they encourage it as long as we aren't deployed or doin trainin" Natsu said with a laugh.

"Well why don't you come on down and mingle Natsu, everyone has been waitin to see you" Mira said with a smile.

"Will do Mira, but first," Natsu said as he brought her into a hug, "Hello Mira, I've missed you."

"Natsu we saw each other not too long ago" Mira said with a smile as she hugged him back.

"Mira, that was at the weddin a few months ago" Natsu said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh god you're right! I'm sorry Natsu, I lost track of time" Mira said with a frown realizing that they had actually been neglecting their pyro friend.

"Hey, don't frown! We're all together now ain't we? So smile, you've always looked better with a smile" Natsu said as he walked down from the stage with her. This caused Mira to start smiling thinking how Natsu hasn't changed much, always willing to make sure his friends are happy no matter what.

As they made their way back towards Laxus and the rest so Mira could put her case down, Natsu got sidetracked by everyone else that wanted to speak to him. He had a short conversation with just about everyone there as they all came up to him to talk and thank him for organizing this little get together for them. To which Natsu would reply that it was his pleasure because he missed everyone getting together too. Macao and Wakaba told him that they were really happy that he remembered to invite them since they were older than him. He told them that that didn't matter because he saw them and any of the older generation there as members of his family too.

"Uncle Natsu!" Asuka shouted as she raced over to the pinkette and leapt at him.

"Hey Asuka! There's my favorite girl!" Natsu yelled back as he caught her and spun her around in a hug before putting her up on his shoulders since she liked it up there so much. "How've you been since I last saw you?"

"You saw me yesterday Uncle Natsu" Asuka said with a giggle.

"So nothin new since yesterday huh?" Natsu asked with a smirk as he swung her down and began to tickle her.

"HAHAHA Uncle Natsu… Uncle Natsu… Stop!" Asuka said in between her laughter.

"You know what you have to say little lady" Natsu cackled as he continued to tickle her.

"Uncle! Uncle! I give up!" Asuka yelled as she laughed. This caused Natsu to release her as she laid on the ground panting heavily.

"Now you can say somethin interestin happened since yesterday" Natsu said giving her a mischievous grin.

"It's always the same when you two get together huh Natsu?" Bisca asked with a bright smile as she shook her head.

"Hey Bisca, Alzack. I can't help it if I don't want her life to be boring" Natsu said with a smile as he hugged his two friends.

"Well as long as you're around I'm sure that won't be a problem" Alzack said with a smile. This caused Natsu to lose his smile for a second but it came right back making the couple think they imagined it dropped at all.

"Heh, yeah well you know me, keepin life interestin for everyone" Natsu said with a chuckle.

As this was going on his group of close friends was watching him play with Asuka.

"He's really going to make a great father one day isn't he?" Mira said as she watched him.

"He's always been good with kids. He was Wendy and Romeo's favorite playmate when we were all younger, remember?" Erza said with a fond smile as she watched the pinkette talk to some of the other people.

"That's true, plus his volunteering at the local orphanage when he can really shows just how much he gets along with children" Lucy said with a bright smile as she watched the pinkette. This caused most to look at her in surprise as they didn't know he volunteered.

"How long has he been doing that?" Cana asked, shocked.

"Hmm… I think the first time he did it was the spring of senior year in high school. He does it a couple of days a month" Lisanna answered.

"Wow, I don't know how he found the time" Levy said smiling at the boy now.

"Well he didn't have to worry about college letters or applications since he knew he wasn't going" Gajeel said since he knew that his cousin had a pretty light load that spring.

"Plus, you should see how much the kids adore him when he goes there. He's brought me and Lisanna once or twice and it's like he's their hero or something" Lucy said with a smile.

As they continued to talk Natsu was able to break away from everyone else and headed towards their table.

"Hey guys!" Natsu yelled as he neared the table with his closest friends.

"Hey Natsu!" They replied as they all got up and went to hug the pinkette or shake his hand (in the case of the other guys).

"How's everyone been? Busy?" Natsu asked as he looked around.

"Yeah, work's been killer recently for me" Laxus said as he stretched.

"Same here. I've been working odd hours all over the place" Erza said.

"Well that's the life of a detective" Natsu said as he laughed.

"True" Erza said with a smile.

"How's the bookstore Levy? Is it as good as Lucy makes it up to be?" Natsu asked with a grin as Lucy pouted.

"I'm sure Lu's been telling you the truth Natsu. We've been getting a lot of business. Especially since the honeymoon" Levy said with a slight blush.

"Well that's great to hear!" Natsu said with a laugh as he rubbed Lucy's head which got her to half heartedly swat at his hands.

"Stop messing up my hair! I got it done just for this party" Lucy complained with a huff.

"Sorry Lucy it just looked too good to resist" Natsu said with a smirk.

"Loser" Lucy replied as she rolled her eyes.

"So how's everyone else been?" Natsu asked as he looked around.

"Well work's still a bitch but there's a couple of new places in town with good booze" said Cana with a grin.

"HA, but nowhere near as good a place to drink as Fairy Tail right?" Natsu asked with a mischievous smile.

"Oh, you know, they come close. But when there's a group of the gang here there's no place better" Cana replied with a bright smile. This got everyone to smile at her words.

"It's been too long since we all got together like this. I've missed watching everyone interact and laugh along with each other" Lisanna said while looking around at the rest of the group.

"Uncle Natsu!" August cried as he ran up to his uncle.

"There's my favorite nephew!" Natsu replied with a grin and he scooped August up.

"Uncle Natsu… I'm your only nephew" August said with a giggle.

"Still my favorite" Natsu said while smiling down at him. "So how've you been? You liked flyin on the airplane?" Natsu asked which made August's face light up.

"Yeah! It was so~ cool! Mom even let me sit by the window so I could watch as everyone got real tiny" August exclaimed.

"Whoa really? How tiny'd they get?" Natsu asked.

"Like ants! Even the big building daddy owns looked tiny like this" August said as he left a little space between his pointer finger and thumb.

"Speaking of daddy where is he?" Natsu asked as he looked around, only to see his friends watching him interact with his nephew with warm smiles on their faces.

"He's over with grandma and grandpa! Let's go, let's go!" August said as he started wriggling out of Natsu's grip so he could pull his uncle towards his family.

"Sorry guys, I'll be right back" Natsu called out over his shoulder.

"No problem Natsu, go talk to your family" Erza replied with a smile.

"Whoever shacks up with him will be a really lucky woman" Kinana said as they watched the pinkette go. This made everyone look at her.

"What?"

"Sounds like someone has a crush on the local pyro" Gray teased as Kinana faintly blushed.

"Oh please, I've already got my man. Although if I didn't maybe I'd pursue him. It's been years since I've heard he's been in a relationship" Kinana said thoughtfully. The single girls at the table could only nod as they watched him go.

"You'd never think he went on a two year tour to the frontlines the way he acts" Cana said absentmindedly.

"I actually forgot he did" Mira said. "It's hard to imagine Natsu having to kill and watch as some of his troops were killed."

"At least he made it home in one piece" Erza said with a slight frown.

"It was a tough time for him when he first got back" Kinana said sadly. "He spent almost every afternoon in here drinking."

"Yeah, but that didn't last long thank goodness. I think we have Wendy and Asuka to thank for that" Lisanna said.

"They were the ones that he pushed forward for so he could be happy and fool around with them" Lucy continued. Mira and Erza both frowned at this.

"I wasn't aware of him having such difficulties" Erza said. "He told me he felt off when he came home but didn't mention any of this."

"Well you know him, keeps his own emotions and feelings bottled up to make sure everyone else stays happy" Lucy replied with a fond smile.

There was a pause as they looked over at Natsu who had just finished hugging his family members and was forced into the seat next to his father.

"So son, how've you been lately? Haven't seen ya in about a week or two" Igneel said with a smile.

"I've been good old man. Just been busy with meetins and briefins recently" Natsu replied.

"They aren't going to send you back to the warfront anytime soon are they?" Grandine asked worriedly.

"It sounds like they might, but nothins set so fingers crossed" Natsu said while looking down at the table.

"I hope you don't have to go back there. Neither side has gained anything from this. I was hoping it would be over already" Zeref said.

"Ah well, they say this new movement of troops they're trying to finalize will end the war, but who knows really" Natsu said. "But enough about that, how are you two doing? I haven't seen you since two Christmases ago. It's been way too long" Natsu said with a smile.

"Aww. We missed you too Natsu" Mavis cooed. "We've both just been busy recently, but I'm glad you convinced us to come down for a little vacation. We needed it and I'm glad I get to see everyone again."

"Yes, with how busy things have been recently in the office I hadn't even had time to think about taking time off" Zeref added. "But your invitation was just the incentive I needed to come visit little brother."

Natsu scowled with no malice behind it. "I've been taller than you since high school Zeref."

"Yes, but you'll always be my baby brother" Zeref teased to which Natsu rolled his eyes playfully.

"Ugh. How's everything else back in Crocus though? The city still as crazy as it's always been?" Natsu asked.

"Well it has calmed down some, but still much louder and faster paced than life here in Magnolia. Though I do miss this place dearly every time we have to leave" Mavis replied with a sad smile.

"Uncle Natsu I made a bunch of friends at school!" August exclaimed happily.

"That's right! You just finished your first year! How you likin it?" Natsu asked with a smile as he saw how excited August was to talk about his new friends.

"It's great! I've met a lot of kids my age. I even had a sleepover last week with my friend Ajeel" August said as he was bouncing up and down.

"Now that must've been fun!" Natsu said excitedly to match August's energy.

"Yes! It was so~ much fun! I asked Mom if we can have another soon and she said okay! I can't wait!" August said not taking his eyes off his uncle, so he didn't see his family smiling at how excited he is.

"I'm sure it'll be fun. Maybe you can get another friend o join to! The more the merrier I always say" Natsu said with a smile and a glance at Mavis.

"That'd be awesome~!" August nearly yelled as he turned to his mom. "Can we invite Invel too mommy? Please~?"

"Well~... We'll see if everyone's parents are okay with it first, but I don't see why not" Mavis said with a smile aimed at her son.

"And we can have it at our house this time if you want bud" Zeref said which got August to start running around happily.

"HAHA I like your dance skills bud" Natsu chuckled. "Now how about you go play with Asuka so we can catch up? I'll be over in a little to play with you two."

"Okay Uncle Natsu!" August said as he bolted towards the table the Connells were sitting at.

"So what's on your mind Natsu?" Igneel asked. He always seemed to be able to read Natsu better than anyone.

"Nothin much old man, I just miss our family dinners and get togethers. This feels sorta like one so I was hopin to just talk" Natsu said with a small smile.

"Well of course. We've missed being able to sit around with you all once a month to catch up. At least we can do the family facetimes almost as often" Mavis said with a sad smile.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't change how happy everyone is… It's just sometimes-" Natsu started before his phone went off. He looked at it and tensed up. "I gotta take this. I'll be right back."

"No problem Natsu" Grandine said.

"When I get back we'll talk about your time at college Wendy."

"Okay Natsu" Wendy said with a smile as Natsu walked outside.

"It must be important if he's taking a call on a get together like this" Grandine remarked. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"It must be work. He doesn't answer his phone otherwise" Igneel said with slight anger, which got everyone else laughing.

"Yeah. Send him a text message and he'll reply immediately but call him and he'll almost never answer" Zeref said shaking his head. "But he's always been that way so I guess we couldn't expect him to change."

"Ahem… Thanks for the vote of confidence older brother" Natsu pouted as he came back and heard his family laughing at him. This got his family to laugh at him even more.

"So son, who was so important to actually get you to answer the phone? Oh~ was it a girl~? Does my Natsu have an announcement to make?" Grandine asked while wagging her eyebrows.

"OH~ it's been so long since you had a girlfriend. I can't wait to meet her" Mavis said with stars in her eyes.

"Natsu you had a girlfriend and you didn't tell me? I thought we never kept secrets from each other!" Wendy said with a fake hurt expression since she knew he didn't have a girlfriend.

"We don't Wendy! And will you two quit it, it was work" Natsu said as he frantically tried to calm Wendy down. But as soon as he finished speaking everyone started laughing at how gullible he is, except Mavis, who really wanted there to be a girlfriend.

"I just don't see why you don't pursue a relationship Natsu. You're not getting any younger and you're not even looking!" Mavis pouted.

"I agree. I'd like you to give me another grandchild sometime in my lifetime son" Grandine added.

"Yeah, you haven't brought a girl home since Lucy, who my money is still on for your future bride" Igneel said with his arms crossed.

"Ugh… I can't believe you guys actually made that stupid pool on my love life" Natsu said as he groaned in annoyance.

"Natsu, it's obvious there are women that want to be with you. And you seem to enjoy being with them so why not try to see where something with one of them will go?" Wendy asked. "You've never really answered me when I asked why you don't want to get into a relationship."

"Because my job is too all over the place. Especially now" Natsu said as he muttered the last part to himself forgetting his whole family has very sharp ears.

"Especially now? Why especially now?" Grandine asked.

"I-Well- Can we pretend you didn't hear that?" Natsu asked hopefully.

"Son" Igneel said sternly. At this point the family was getting worried since Natsu wasn't one to try to hide something from them.

"I just want to enjoy tonight" Natsu said as he tried to escape only to feel a couple of hands grab him and force him to sit. He looked down and saw all the girls grabbing him to stop him from leaving and the two guys half risen to bring him back if he left. This didn't go unnoticed by the other tables and some stopped talking to look over.

"You're causin a scene" Natsu whisper-yelled, hoping they'll let it go.

"Sit and tell us. Everyone will go back to what they're doing in a minute" Grandine said without taking her eyes off Natsu.

"Please Natsu?" Wendy asked with puppy dog eyes, which she knew Natsu couldn't say no to.

Natsu sighed heavily before sitting back down to collect his thoughts.

"What do you think that was about?" Mira asked as they looked over to see Natsu slump back down into his seat.

"It almost looked like they were going to fight" Erza said. "I don't think I've ever seen that family this serious before."

"Only really when they're fighting about something, but even that is rare" Lucy said to which Lisanna nodded.

"If I didn't know better I'd say the hot head said something to insult them before walkin away" Gray said. "Just look how serious they are."

"Maybe we should go see if we can help?" Cana asked to which a few shook their heads.

"This is family business. If we need to know I'm sure Natsu will tell us" Erza stated as the rest of the table went back to making small talk with throwing occasional glances at the family.

"Fine. If you have to know that was the council" Natsu said tiredly.

"The council called you? The military council? For what?" Zeref asked shocked.

"The new mission I mentioned earlier got the green light" Natsu said without looking up from the table.

"And what does that mean for you?" Grandine asked carefully.

"It means I'm shovin out Friday" Natsu said hesitantly.

"What?!" was the collective yell by the family. This made everyone at the bar stop and look at the family. When they turned they saw Wendy jump on her brother and wrap him in a hug with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"They said you were done! You told me you'd be home for good after that last tour!" Wendy cried. This made everyone in the bar freeze as they now knew why the family looked horrified.

"I know Wendy, but I'm one of their best, so they say I have to go" Natsu said lowly while trying to comfort her.

"Natsu?" Natsu looked up and saw all of his friends crowding around the family. "Is it true?" Lucy asked with tears in her eyes.

Natsu let out a long breath. "Yeah Lucy, It's true. I just got the call. I'm shipping out Friday" Natsu said while slowly rocking Wendy.

"So soon?! They gave you much more notice last time!" Lisanna cried.

"Yeah, I guess time is of utmost importance for this mission" Natsu said with a sad chuckle.

"But that's less than a week away! We all wanted to spend more time with you this week!" Mira cried out.

"Huh? What do you mean? We see each other plenty" Natsu said confused.

"No we don't Natsu! Look around you. It's been years since we've all gotten together like this and almost that long with us just spending time with you!" Erza exclaimed while holding her tears back.

"We all have jobs and stuff now so I get it. We can't go back to seeing each other everyday! I'm just happy I get to see you guys when I can" Natsu said with a chuckle.

"Wait" Mira started as her eyes went wide. "You knew." This got everyone to look at her questioningly as Natsu just looked down.

"You DID!" Mira yelled. "That's why you wanted to sing that song tonight. You knew it might be the last…" Mira started but she couldn't finish her sentence as she started crying into Laxus' chest. Everyone looked at Natsu wide-eyed. Some of them started tearing up as he didn't deny it. Wendy started crying harder into Natsu's chest and Asuka and August climbed up and hugged Natsu before they started sobbing.

"Well Natsu.. What can you tell us?" Gildarts asked as he made his way to front of the group.

"Yo old man…." Natsu said sadly. "I wanna thank you for keeping me home for as long as you could."

"What do you…" Gildarts started before his eyes went wide too.

"Yeah.. they forced you out so _that_ mission would pass the council" Natsu said while comforting the three younger kids.

"THAT's WHY?!" Gildarts raged. "For something as stupid as that! I'm gonna-"

"No" Natsu said firmly.

"Wha… Natsu that mission's-" Gildarts was cut off again.

"I know. But they were goin to do it anyway and it will probably lead us to victory. If me goin will save someone else then hell yeah I'm goin" Natsu said determinedly.

"They're playin you boy. They know how you feel about your men and they're usin that so you'll go" Gildarts said.

"I know. But I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to one of my men that I had to send over there" Natsu said as he handed the two kids to their mothers. He then moved Wendy to the chair next to him and stood up to look Gildarts in the eye. "You can't stop this anymore and I need to know you believe I can do it."

Gildarts grinned. "Of course I know you can. I trained yah after all."

Natsu gave a fanged smile. "Thanks old man. And I hope ya'll can keep me in your thoughts and prayers while I'm gone" Natsu said as he looked around the room.

"Of course you can Natsu. We're your family and we will do anything we can to try and keep you safe" Erza said with determination in her eye as she didn't stop the tears anymore. This got a roar of approval from everyone else in the bar as they each went up and hugged Natsu wishing him well and promising to keep him in their thoughts and prayers. Asuka latched on to him and made him promise that he'd play with her everyday until he leaves, to which he easily said he would. Lucy brought him into a strong hug and demanded that he spend time with her this week too, and Lisanna did the same. Erza and Mira said they'd stop by a few nights to just hang out. Kinana told him she'd make him lunch for free if he'd come in for it to which he replied that he'd stop by to chat at least once this week.

Cana walked up to him and kissed him square on the lips, which got a few of the girls to squawk in protest. She then told him that she was just going to show up at his place a few nights this week so he better be prepared. Natsu was stunned for a second before laughing and agreeing with her. Makarov made the boy promise he would take care of himself and not put himself in any more risk than he already was by going back to the warfront. Gildarts demanded Natsu show off how well he was trained by going and completing the mission in no time and coming home a hero to which Natsu agreed while laughing.

Natsu laughed and then turned back to his family and saw they were all openly crying.

"Uncle Natsu, you're going away again?" August sobbed as he was picked up by his uncle.

"Yeah little buddy. I gotta go" Natsu said with a watery smile.

"But I don't want you to go. I want you to come stay at our house so I can show you my new toys and my friends" August cried.

"I'll be home in no time buddy. Then I'll take a nice week or two long vacation and hang out with you everyday. How does that sound?" Natsu asked with a smile.

"I-I think I like that idea" August said with an attempted smile.

"Good" Natsu said. "Now I got a mission for you little buddy" Natsu 'whispered.'

"What is it?"August asked.

"I need you to look after your folks for me. They're gonna need you to be strong for em while I'm gone" Natsu said with a big smile that August returned.

"Of course I will! August exclaimed with a salute.

"That's my favorite nephew" Natsu laughed.

"We'll be thinking of you every night Natsu. I just wish this war never started so you could stay home with us forever" Mavis hiccupped as she took her son back.

"Hey now, you gotta smile Mavis. You're beautiful when you smile" Natsu said smiling at his sister-in-law.

"Hehe You always did know how to get anyone else to smile and laugh Natsu" Mavis said with a watery smile before it dropped. "I'm really gonna miss you" she said as she wrapped him in a hug after passing August to Zeref.

"I'll miss you too. And everyone else. I'll be thinking about you guys everyday. You're the reason I fight and I'm hoping this mission will protect us all for a long time" Natsu said as he wrapped Mavis in a hug and stepped back once he let go.

He had just enough time to brace himself as Wendy came crashing back into him. "NATSU!" she cried out while sobbing.

"Hey little sis" Natsu said softly.

"I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here with us. I can't go back to waiting three weeks to get a letter from you. I don't want to have to go to sleep at night praying that we don't get a letter saying the worst has happened. I don't know what I would do if I lost you" Wendy cried out as she cried uncontrollably. Natsu rocked her back and forth slowly while whispering reassurances in her ear to calm her down. After a few minutes she calmed down.

"I promise you Wendy, I will do everything in my power to make sure I can back home to you and everyone else" Natsu said with a strong conviction in his voice.

This got Wendy to finally smile, albeit a watery one. "Okay Natsu. But know I'll be thinking of you everyday. I'll keep a journal of major events so when you come home I won't forget anything that I did while you were gone."

"Thanks Wendy. I look forward to reading it" Natsu said with a fond smile as he looked down on his sister.

He slowly got both of them up and turned to his brother who was smiling at him.

"Natsu, there isn't much I can make you promise me that everyone else hasn't thought of yet" Zeref said with a laugh. The made Natsu and a few other people laugh. "Just know you're going to be on my mind until you come home. And I will be holding you to that two week vacation" Zeref said with a smirk that Natsu returned.

"I hope you'll be ready to house me and Happy for two weeks when I get back" Natsu said with a mischievous glint in his eye that made everyone sweat a little.

"HAHA of course. You and Happy are both welcome any time" Mavis chimed in since Zeref seemed to be having second thoughts.

"Yeah...Any time…" Zeref said while everyone laughed at him.

Natsu then walked up to his parents with a small smile on his face.

"I was gonna wait until the end of the night to announce it since I figured this would happen" Natsu said sadly.

"Oh honey, of course everyone is going to want to give you the best farewell they can. This party is just that" Grandine said while crying.

"Your mother's right son. Everyone here cares about you so much. Some more than others of course" Igneel laughed while winking at a blushing Cana, "it's only natural we all want you to come back home safe and sound."

"You know I will dad. Just like last time" Natsu said.

"I know boy, but that doesn't mean I won't worry about yah everyday. Especially with how reckless you are" Igneel said with a watery smirk as everyone laughed and Natsu pouted.

"Natsu?" Grandine said to get her son's attention.

"Yeah mom?" Natsu asked quietly.

"Can you stay at the house a few nights this week?" Grandine asked while crying.

"Of course I can Mom" Natsu said as he wrapped his crying mother in a hug. This made a large part of their audience aww at the cute scene.

"Good. Bring Happy with you. We'll take good care of him while you're away. He won't want for anything" Igneel said with a small laugh as he hugged his son next.

"I'm calling the hospital and taking Friday off so we can take you to the airport" Grandine said.

"Thanks Mom. You guys are the best" Natsu said as he pulled away from both of his parents.

"Well this was pretty drainin. But I'm glad we got a few hours of happily hanging out before the world got in the way" Natsu said with a laugh as everyone laughed with him.

"I guess it's time to head out since I know someone has work tomorrow. Plus I gotta be up early to head in for a physical now" Natsu said slowly. "So I'm gonna head home now and start packing everything me and Happy'll need."

"Okay Natsu, be safe and just know we're all happy we got to see yah again" Macao called out.

"I'm happy I got to catch up with everyone too. Lets not wait a few years before we do this again yeah?" Natsu asked as he turned to leave. Everyone agreed and watched as he walked away.

"Oh and Natsu?" Makarov said to catch Natsu's attention.

"Yeah Gramps?" NAtsu asked as he turned around to see everyone doing the Fairy Tail hand sign.

"Remember, even if we can't see you. No matter how far away you may be. We will always be watching over you" Makarov said from his place on top of the table.

"Yeah. Thanks everyone" Natsu said as he opened the doors to the bar and walked out.


	2. The Mission

**I unfortunately do not own Fairy tail. Character credit goes to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Y'all asked for a second chapter and I agree it wasn't really set up for a one-shot. Hope you enjoy it!**

 **The song I used in the first chapter is** _ **The Parting Glass**_ **by The High Kings**

* * *

"Natsu, we're going to miss you when you leave" Erza said as a few members were sprawled out in her living room.

"Yeah matchstick, any idea how long you'll be gone this time?" Gray asked 'nonchalantly.'

"We're...we're not sure. They believe 4 years….minimum" Natsu said hesitantly, knowing it was going to hurt for his friends to hear that.

"Four years?!" Lucy exclaimed. "But your last tour was two and you witnessed so many things no one should have to!"

"I know Lucy, but it's what I signed up for. As long as what I'm doin will keep you guys safe, I'll continue to fight" Natsu said soothingly as the girl grabbed him and held on tight.

"Are you headed to the front lines this time? Or is your battalion being held back as reinforcements?" Erza asked.

"Probably as backup for the first year then we'll rotate to the front" Natsu answered. "I could be wrong though. Could just stay back the whole time."

"I hope you do" Mira said quietly. "I can't imagine how it is on the frontlines. With how it's reported on the news the war is becoming bloodier the longer it goes on."

"I wouldn't want yah to be able to imagine it Mira. It's not exactly a nice time" Natsu replied. "But if me going up saves even one soldier I'd gladly do it."

Erza couldn't help the small smile at this. "We know Natsu. Your selflessness has always been admirable."

"Nah it's not a big deal. I just do what I'd want other people to do for me" Natsu said with a light pink dusting his cheeks. "Well I'm gonna get a soda. Anyone want anything?" Natsu asked as he untangled himself from his blonde friend.

"No sit Natsu, we'll get some drinks for everyone" Mira replied sweetly.

"I'll help Mira, it's no big deal" Natsu said.

"No Natsu, relax. You need to take advantage of all the downtime you can" Erza replied assertively.

"Okay, okay. Thanks" Natsu said with his hands up submissively.

"No problem~" Mira sang as she nearly skipped to the kitchen.

"So when's everyone else comin? It's almost 6" Natsu asked Gray and Lucy.

"Hmm I'm not sure" Lucy said with her finger on her chin in thought. "I thought they said close to 6 though."

"Cana said she'll be here in 10 and Jellal and Laxus said they'd be here in 5ish" Erza said from the kitchen.

"Still can't believe she kissed you" Lucy grumbled.

"Why Luce? Jealous?" Gray asked while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Gray~ stop~" Lucy whined with a pout. "No teasing tonight."

"HAHAHA oh c'mon Lucy, it's not like I have someone like that and I'm not lookin for that now. Especially since I'm leavin" Natsu said while chuckling. To which Lucy crosses her arms and deepened her pout.

"Still.."

"Juvia's here~" a new voice sang out.

"We're in the livin room Juv" Gray shouted.

"Hello everyone!" Juvia exclaimed.

"Hey Juvia! How've you been?" Natsu asked while grimacing at the welcome kiss shared between Gray and Juvia.

"Juvia has been good! Juvia has been working with the new research sent from the team out to sea. We may have found a new species of shark!" Juvia explained excitedly.

"That's awesome!" Natsu said. "I always like watchin shark week when home."

"Yeah I remember you used to lock yourself in your home for the whole week every year in high school" Lucy said while rolling her eyes.

"Hey! I invited everyone to come watch with me!" Natsu said with a pout. "Not my fault no one came over. I even bought snacks!"

"Hello~" another voice rang out.

"In the living room Lisanna!" Natsu called out

"Not just her flame-brain" Laxus said as they all walked in.

"Oh..well sorry guys" Natsu said while scratching the back of his head.

"It isn't a problem Natsu. How you holding up?" Jellal asked.

"Uh...fine? I'm not worried about going" Natsu said. "Yeah it sucks to leave you guys and the family behind but I'm happy to do it to help keep the war away from home."

All the new arrivals features slightly softened at this. Of course Laxus hid it immediately but he knew how strongly Natsu felt about protecting those dear to him.

"You're still so brave for going back Natsu" Lisanna said. "After what you must have witnessed I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to stay."

"Well yeah I'd rather stay home. But if I don't go they'll send someone else. Maybe someone younger and greener that could get hurt or worse" Natsu said seriously. "I couldn't forgive myself if I let that happen."

"Natsu sometimes it okay to put yourself first too" Lucy said somewhat pleadingly. "No one will blame you if you want to protect yourself in a bad situation."

Natsu sighed at this. "I know Lucy I know. But it's just how I am."

"Please Natsu. Please try to take care of yourself. I'm not saying put yourself first but we need you to come home to us" Lisanna added while thinking ' _to me.'_

"Yeah Natsu. Everyone loves you too much. Just think of how Wendy or August would be" Cana added. "Oh, and hi everyone."

"Oh hey Cana when'd you get here?" Natsu asked desperately trying to change the subject.

"While your attention was on Lucy" Cana said as she sat next on the armrest next to him which got her glared at by two other girls. "Can't believe you didn't notice me Natsu" she said with a fake pout as she ran her hand up and down his arm.

"I..well... I mean…wait. You're messin with me aren't yah?" Natsu deadpanned.

"No~" Cana sang as she ran her hand up his arm to rest on his shoulder.

"Yah know I give my attention to whoever talks to me. Stupid result of the military boot camp" Natsu sighed as he suppressed a shiver. He may not have been looking for anything but he enjoyed whatever Cana was doing to him.

"Okay we made some lemonade and brought some soda and ice" Mira listed off as she and Erza returned.

"Awesome!" Natsu cheered. "I'll have some of the lemonade!"

Erza poured him a glass and handed it to him. "Here you go Natsu. Anyone else?" She asked as she looked around. A few people have her their choice and some others helped themselves.

"Anyone hear from metal face and Levy?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah they should be coming soon. Levy closed the store around 5:30" Lucy said as she checked her phone.

"We're here now" the gruff voice of Gajeel sounded from the doorway.

"Hi everyone!" Levy said excitedly as she hugged Natsu then everyone else.

"HAHA hey Levy. How was the store?" Natsu asked.

"Quiet. Not many people today. Probably going to get busy soon. People will start coming in to get holiday gifts within a few weeks" Levy answered.

"Ah crap! I gotta finish gettin Wendy's gifts wrapped up!" Natsu cried.

"What do you mean Natsu?" Mira asked.

"When I deploy or go to trainin durin the holidays I always get Wendy a few gifts I think she'll like so she has somethin from me to open. I got her four presents since I'm probably going to be gone for four holidays-"Natsu explained.

"Four?! Four years?! You're gonna be gone four years?" Cana and Lisanna cried out.

"Oh…right. Not everyone was here earlier" Natsu said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head. "Uh haven't been given a true time yet. I'll find out when I get over there. But they said it'll probably be four max."

"Oh" Lisanna said quietly. "I hope it's sooner than four."

"Yeah well now yah see why I didn't really try to start a relationship with anyone since I got back. I knew I was gonna go for a second tour and every time I go I have to watch everyone else's' wives, girlfriends, husbands, or boyfriends break down. It's not heartwarmin like the welcome homes are. It's painful enough watchin my family sad. I'd hate for someone else I hold close to break down" Natsu said seriously. "Plus I had a long talk with Gildarts about it. He told me about how hard it was on Cana's mom and how she left him because he wouldn't leave the military. How he was floored he didn't know he had a kid until she was grown. He regrets choosin the military over his family and says he'd give a lot."

"I...I didn't know that's how he felt" Cana said shocked.

"He knows you'll feel like it's your fault. He doesn't want that. He's happy yah told him at all. He's reached out and is trying to repair his relationship with your mom now that he's home for good."

"He is? Mom didn't tell me that" Cana said quietly as she tried to process everything.

"So you'll never have a family?" Mira asked sadly. "But you'd have the cutest kids!

"HAHA Mira you've been sayin that since we were in high school!" Natsu laughed out.

"Well you were so cute! It was only natural you'd have cute kids!" Mira defended with a pout.

"I remember yah only saying I was cute when you were tryin hard to make me cry" Natsu deadpanned.

"Hehehe~ you did look so~ cute then though." Mira awkwardly chuckled.

"You were quite the demon before high school Mira" Erza commented.

"Well what can I say? You brought out the demon in me 'red'" Mira said using air quotes.

Erza hummed in response. "That true. I guess we both were a little out of control when we were little." Everyone else shared looks at this, knowing they're still monsters when they want to be.

"Anyway~" Levy drawled, "you didn't really answer the question Natsu."

"Oh.. uh.. I'd like a family someday. My contract with the military is up after this tour and I was thinkin about not re-signin…" Natsu trailed off.

"Really? What would you do if you didn't re-sign?" Erza asked.

"Uh.. not sure really" Natsu said sheepishly.

"That's not true~" a new voice sang out. "You've been taking online classes and stuff Natsu."

"Wendy~" Natsu whined. "I didn't want everyone to know~"

"Hehehe oops" Wendy giggled.

"Well I guess that my cue that mom wants me home" Natsu said.

"Yeah. She wants to have the family all together again before...before the morning" Wendy said as she began to tear up. Natsu was up and had her enveloped in a hug in a flash.

"Hey Wends, it's not gonna be forever yah know. I need you to be strong for me home so I can be strong while I'm away" Natsu said soothingly while everyone watched on.

"I...I know. But I can't help it. I don't want you to go Natsu! I want you to be here to help me move in to my new dorm. I want you here so I can ask questions about what stuff means. I want to be able to have our talks like we always have" Wendy cried.

"Hey now sis. We can still have those talks. And… and I know I won't be here to do that for yah. I wanna be yah know that right?" Natsu asked and felt her nod against his shoulder. "This just means you'll have to take pictures and take notes so I won't miss a thing. I'll try to schedule a Skype time for your move in day so yah can show me around your room and I can help yah decorate." He finished with a toothy grin that Wendy gave a small smile back to.

"Okay.. that doesn't sound too bad" Wendy said through her sniffles.

"I'll be back before yah know it Wends. Just like last time" Natsu said as he broke away from his sister and turned to the room seeing some of the girls had tears in their eyes.

"Well...uh.. this is goodbye I guess" Natsu said awkwardly. At this everyone got up to wish him goodbye and good luck. All of the girls have him a kiss on the cheek for luck which made him laugh. The guys either have him a hug or a firm handshake telling him to take care of himself. After this he slowly left and leaned against the door to collect himself for a minute.

"Anyone else catch what he said?" Natsu heard Erza say.

"Yeah the idiot said goodbye. He hates saying goodbye" Gray answered.

"You...you don't think he believes he isn't coming back so you?" Mira asked and it sounded like she was about to breakdown.

"I...no.. I can't think like that. He has to come home. He has to!" Lucy cried out.

"He will come home. Cmon guys this is Natsu we're talking about. He'll be fine" Cana said trying to reassure herself as much as everyone else. At this point he had to walk away. He was hoping no one noticed him slip but he realized his friends always were so much smarter than he is.

At this point Natsu felt the world was shaking. "...wake up sir…."

Natsu slowly opened his eyes and looked around. It was just him and his spotter. They were in Alvarez.

Right.

That happened almost two years ago. He's almost been gone for two years. He wondered how everyone was doing briefly before he got up and did his morning stretches and body weight workout.

For the first 6 months his battalion was used as reserves and reinforcements in tight situations. The next 5 his battalion were on the frontlines. He saw battle at least once every three days as both sides tried to out maneuver each other. Eventually phase 2 began and three two man squads of the best shots out of the deployed troops and any of the spotters that volunteered. The squads had a few days to get their calls sorted out together before they set out.

"Alright McBride. The groups we've been followin recently have all been headed the same way. I think we're close to finding their command center now" Natsu said.

"That's great news sir!" McBride exclaimed. "I can't wait for this to be over so I can go home. My daughter's birthday's in a couple months."

"Oh yeah? How old's she gonna be again?" Natsu asked as he finished packing his stuff up.

"Three, sir. I can't believe how big she's gettin" Will said.

"Yeah they grow fast. Especially when you're away as often as we are" Natsu said.

"Oh I didn't know you had some sir" Will said.

"Oh, I don't. I'm talking about my nephew. He was so big two years ago I couldn't believe it. I bet he's even bigger now" Natsu said offhandedly. "I'm hopin to settle down when we get back. Gotta try to find someone willin to put up with me."

At this Will laughed. "If you really have such a problem, I'm sure one of my wife's friends would be more than happy to take a good looking man like you out."

Natsu thought of the three women that had been somewhat fighting over him at home. "Uhh..no thanks man. I kinda have my hands full at home. Plus I told you to call me Natsu or something. It's just us. I don't care about rank."

"Alright I'll try Natsu" Will said with a smile as they continued on to get a good vantage point on a grassy hill overlooking a main road and a large lake.

Once they laid down in cover Natsu started. "Okay. So accordin to the intel we got this mornin, the Alvarez troop movements have been different. They seem to be searchin for somethin... or some _one_. The other two teams behind enemy lines have been pulled out. We leave tomorrow. We can't risk it, so we have to hope we can find a patrol to follow that'll lead us to their command center today. If we find it today we can hopefully force Alvarez to surrender soon."

"Okay we've got movement to the east" Will said looking through his binoculars. "Looks like a convoy two vehicles with mounted guns and two transports with some air support."

"Looks like those transports have some big ammunition. They might be the flak ammo or the artillery shells we heard that group talking about the other day" Natsu said as he watched through his scope. "Either way, I'd guess they're goin to refill their depot at the command center."

"The chopper is veerin off course!" Will whisper-shouted. "Shit it looks like it's coming right at us!"

Natsu has to do some quick thinking. "They're probably searchin for us now. Hide your gun and binos under your body and don't move." Both did as Natsu suggested and the chopper flew over them without slowing down. They heard it round back on them and braced themselves for the coming wind blasts.

Once the chopper left they both let out a sigh of relief. They saw the chopper move out and head to where they believed the enemy base was. The convoy was making its way past the two when they finally got their binoculars out to watch them pass.

"Will, didn't you say there were foot soldiers with the convoy?" Natsu whispered.

"Yessir. I counted about 10" Will replied.

"Shit! Get up and run. Go go go!" Natsu yelled as they both scrambled up and started running. As soon as they got up they heard the tell tale sounds of gunfire from 100 yards away from where they were just rested.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Will yelled as they ran. They quickly got back to town but their pursuers never stopped. The two saw the jeeps entering the opposite side of town.

"In here quick!" Natsu exclaimed as they busted a door in and quickly closed it behind them. They raced up to the top floor of the four story building knowing they didn't have a lot of time before they were swarmed. Once up to the top floor they quickly set up a small defensible area and radioed in that they needed anything to get them out of there. Just as they finished they heard the car doors opening and closing. The tell-tale signs of reinforcements arriving.

Will peeked his head up over the windowsill to look down. "I'm counting close to thirty now sir" Will whispered. Natsu didn't bother correcting him this time. He was trying to figure out how to get them both out of there. They moved away from the exterior wall slowly. As they were far enough both slammed to the floor as the entire face of the house came under fire from the mounted guns.

"Ah! I'm hit" Will called out. Natsu turned his head to look and see a spray or red coming out of Will's leg. "AAAHH!" Will screamed. As Natsu went to move over to him, he felt pain rip through his lower abdomen and his leg.

"AAAHH!" Natsu screamed. The gunfire stopped and they braved themselves for the foot soldiers. As the soldiers made their way through the building the two raised their guns and readied themselves. The door they braved began to get slammed into so they opened fire on the door. They heard the screams coming through the door.

"They're still alive? These guys have to be crazy lucky!" They heard someone yell out. "That's five down, oh no...retreat!"

The two slowly pick themselves up when they hear this and look outside to see what's going on. Both widen their eyes in disbelief. Their military is going to bomb the area to take out the enemies. Natsu gets Will up and to the other side of the building. He then throws Will out the window onto the fire escape before he hops out himself.

"Can you stand?!" Natsu asked urgently.

"No sir, I was hit pretty bad" Will said weakly.

"Shit. Alright Will. I need you to think about your wife and daughter. Think about how badly you want to see them and how happy they will be to see you when we get home" Natsu said as he threw his gun over his shoulder and lifted will in the fireman's carry.

Natsu then made his way down the fire escape hoping their bombers would notice the enemies fleeing in cars and wouldn't drop on them. He sprinted down the fire escape and praised any god that would listen that the stairways went straight to the ground in Alvarez. No ladders that he'd have to drop after getting to the final level. His leg was ready to give out but he pushed forward knowing any hesitation could lead to both of them dying and they both had people to return home to. Just as he began to slow down, the pilots dropped their payloads. A squad of five pilots decimated the area Natsu and Will both were just in and covered a lot of area.

The explosions sounded and Natsu didn't have time to look behind him as he was blasted forward and into the bushes across the street. He could feel blood rushing out of his abdomen, leg and now back from the shrapnel and rocks. He struggled to look over at Will, and saw he kept him safe. ' _Thank the gods he's alright'_ was Natsu's last thought before the world faded to black.

 **(Elsewhere)**

The Dragneels were lounging around their house. It was towards the end of a Saturday in summer. It was a day before the two year anniversary of Natsu getting deployed. Igneel was stretched out on the couch, while Grandine was taking cookies out of the stove. Wendy was watching t.v. with her father but she was sitting on the loveseat. The cats were curled up with Igneel and Wendy. It was a somber, peaceful afternoon. They hadn't heard from Natsu for six months. Last they heard he was going behind enemy lines to try and find a way to cut off Alvarez' reinforcement routes or something. They were waiting to hear from him again.

Just as the movie they were watching finished and the credits began, there was a knock at the door. Being the only one up, Grandine answered it. She broke down immediately which grabbed the attention of the other two who rusheed to see what happened. Once they reach their doorway they see what caused Grandine to become the sobbing mess that she is: there's a casualty notification officer and a chaplain in their dress blues at the door. Immediately the other two members of the family begin openly crying and grab Grandine in a family hug while they let the men talk.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel?" One of the men ask.

"Y-yes that's us" Igneel choked out.

"We...We're sorry to have to be here today but it's been reported that your son, First Lieutenant Dragneel, has been declared missing in action" The chaplain said as he hung his head. The CNO hands over a stack of papers to Igneel who raises a shaky hand to accept it.

"Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel, just know we are doing and will continue to do everything in our power to bring your son home" the CNO said as he stepped back from the family. "We will notify you of any changes, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to call, email, or however you want to contact me. My contact information is there but if you would please allow us inside, we'd like to inform you of the incident we lost contact with Lieutenant Dragneel."

The Dragneels slowly make their way back to the living room where the CNO describes what happened to Natsu from the information they were given. Once finished, the Chaplain led the family in a prayer so that they may find Natsu swiftly and bring him home. What went unsaid was that if he was dead, that his soul may rest in peace. After the prayer, the two men left after hugging every present member of the family one last time.

"And remember" the CNO stated, "If you need anything do not hesitate to call me."

"Thank you Officer" Grandine said in a hoarse voice.

"Don't thank me until we bring your boy home ma'am" he replied as the two walked away.

The door was slowly closed by the family as they returned to their living room to grieve some more.

A few hours later the family decided that they had to call Zeref and Mavis. Igneel texted Zeref saying he had to talk to him and it was a matter of utmost importance. Zeref agreed to call them when he got home and put August to bed. At 9 o'clock, Zeref asked his father how he wanted to do the call. Igneel told him to go into his office with Mavis, they were going to video chat.

"Hello every-" Zeref started before he saw their faces.

"Is...what's wrong?" Mavis asked.

The trio looked at one another then the two girls nodded at Igneel. They knew this was going to be emotional for the family but they had a right to know.

"Natsu's gone missing" Igneel croaked out. This caused Wendy and Grandine to restart their waterworks as tears filled the eyes of both Zeref and Mavis.

"W-Wha-What d-did you say?" Zeref stuttered.

"Natsu is...he's missing in action" Grandine cried. At this mavis dug her face into her husband's chest and began sobbing uncontrollably. Zeref grabbed her and held her close as he began to cry into her hair.

"We'll be there tomorrow" Was all Zeref said before the call ended.


	3. The Aftermath

**What's up everyone? Another chapter for you all. I hope you enjoy it! Please R &R as I'm always looking to improve my writing. Enjoy.**

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During the first week of Natsu being missing the Dragneels had everyone from Natsu's friend group over to grieve. Within two days of Zeref and his family arriving back in Magnolia, Lucy, Lisanna, Mira, Erza, Cana, and Levy were all at the Dragneel's bawling their eyes out. Lucy was tightly holding Happy, Lisanna was holding Wendy along with Mira and Erza, Cana was crying while sitting next to Lucy and Levy.

It was then Igneel and Grandine began crying for a new reason. They had always known Natsu was loved by his friends, but now they saw just how much. A few hours after the girls showed up, the rest arrived. All cried wishing for Natsu to return to them safely. It was then that Wendy had a great idea occur to her.

"Lucy…" Wendy started and got everyone's attention. "Would...I mean… if you don't want to its fine but… can you tell me some of your favorite memories of your time with Natsu?" Immediately the Dragneels saw what little Wendy was trying to do and they all smiled for what seemed like the first time in years to them.

Lucy sniffled a couple of times and wiped her eyes before looking at Wendy with a watery smile. "Sh-sure Wendy. The one that sticks out to me the most is how we first met." The group looked at the girl intently. They saw as her eyes glassed over as she was brought back to a 'happier' time. A few were also curious as they had never heard the story before.

"I had just got to school-I moved to Magnolia when we were in third grade so I knew no one. Well, I was kinda sitting by myself in the corner since I knew no one and there weren't many people in class yet. I noticed that a few of the kids were huddled together and I guessed that they were all friends. Then in walked Natsu. He was early for school, which I learned later was a miracle" Lucy said with a giggle that got a few chuckles out of everyone there and an eye roll of annoyance from Grandine.

"He looked around and when he saw me he just walked over, introduced himself and declared we were now friends" more laughter at this. "He went to the bathroom and a couple of girls came over and started being mean to me. Maybe it was because I was the new girl, I don't know. They threw my stuff around and started saying that no one will like me here and that I should just go back to wherever I came from. It made me start to cry. But then in walked Natsu and he came over and started yelling at those girls and made them go away. We spent the rest of the time before the rest of the group got there just talking about things. He really made me forget all about what happened just before that by telling me stories about what him and 'underpants man' would do when they were younger and how Erza would stop them. Then Gray came in and introduced himself before he started taking off his clothes, which made me shriek." at this Gray shrunk a little under the glare being sent his way by Erza and everyone laughed at him.

"Natsu yelled at him to stop stripping and then I realized just who Gray was. It wasn't much longer before Levy and Lisanna came in and then we were all talking together. I nearly cried because they were treating me like I had been friends with them our whole lives. Then during lunch I got introduced to the older group members and the ones that were in a different class like Erza, Mira, Elfman, Gajeel, and Juvia. I was so happy. Never before had I had so many great friends. They didn't even care who my father was. They just treated me like any other friend, and I was so happy" Lucy said as she began to tear up again. "I never did thank you all for being so nice to me. I'm so happy to be friends with all of you!" She cried out while looking around at everyone. This made all of the girls group hug with a small amount of tears in their eyes as the guys just watched on with small smiles on their faces.

Igneel and Grandine saw then that their son was the reason this great group of friends was together. Natsu had, in some way shape or form brought all of these people together. But this reminded them of who wasn't there and they quickly and quietly left for the kitchen so they could cry again over their son. They fixed drinks and some quick snacks while they were in there, and once they calmed down decided to bring them out to the group. When they got back to the living room they heard Lisanna just finishing up a story about Natsu. This was how the rest of the day was spent, the whole group swapping stories of their favorite times with Natsu or how they met. Mavis and Zeref even told some of their funny or awkward encounters with Natsu, especially when he was trying to hook the two of them up. They said he realized they liked each other, but Zeref was too quiet and shy and mavis was too scared that Zeref didn't like her back so they kept their relationship at acquaintances, but Natsu was having none of that and would force the two into a bunch of awkward situations that ended up bringing the two closer together. This made everyone smile as Mavis and Zeref were one of the favorite couples of the town. The group went in order telling stories. It went all the way around the room quite a few times and everyone was feeling slightly better when it became dark. Everyone had to leave because they had to work the next day. They said their watery goodbyes and promised to stop by once a week to check in on the family. Everyone left except Lucy who asked to stay with Wendy for the night.

 **(Elsewhere)**

Natsu felt as though his body weighed a ton. He couldn't feel anything but radiating pain at first, but as he woke up more, he began to feel a few different things. Mainly that he was shirtless and he had bandages on. Once he realized this, he was going to open his eyes and get a feel for where he is, but then he heard voices he didn't recognize getting closer to where he was so he played dead still.

"We shouldn't have saved these two! Look at their uniforms, they're clearly from Fiore!" One voice exclaimed.

"It's our jobs as health care professionals to take care of the wounded. Besides you know Alvarez customs. We brought them under our roof, they are our guests and cannot be forced to leave by anyone but us" another voice said calmly.

"But the military keeps coming back demanding that we hand them over! Eventually they're going to say to hell with customs and force us to hand them over!"

"They won't because the soldiers don't wish to anger the gods. Ankhseram would be most displeased if they took a life into their own hands like that. They do not wish to be seen trying to do a god's job like that."

"Not all worship in the old ways! If ordered to, I bet a few of them would come in and take them without hesitation!"

"Enough! We will make these men well and release them when they are healthy enough to be on their own. For now, let's just focus on our jobs as healers. The one will be awake soon… or so I hope. It's been about a week since the bombing." At this Natsu perked up slightly. So he'd been here for a week already? He must've lost a lot more blood than he thought.

'Where's Will? They kept saying 'they' so he should be here somewhere. I'll have to find him' Natsu thought before he heard a door open and close. He recognized it as the room next to his and he heard some muffled talking. 'I wonder if that's where they're keeping Will..' Natsu thought before he heard the sounds of gagging and a "that's always gross!" being shouted out. Wait. He recognized that voice. 'Will! He's okay! I wonder what they gave him to get that kind of reaction.. Eh not important. Now I just need to convince these guys I'm still out so they'll leave us alone tonight and we can sneak out under the cover of night.'

At that Natsu heard the door open and someone say, "Your wounds are closing nicely. A few more days and they should be healed up nicely. Unfortunately they're going to scar."

"I'm fine with a little scarring. It's better than the alternative given how banged up we were. Has Natsu woken up yet?" Will asked and Natsu could hear the hope in his voice.

"We haven't checked up on him this morning yet, but he wasn't awake before we went to sleep yesterday." A pause before an "I'm sorry, I know you want him to wake up."

"There's nothing for you to feel sorry for!" Will said quickly. "You're tending our wounds and housin us even though the Alvarez military is asking for us. You've done enough for us. I can't begin to thank you for all you've done!"

"It's no problem young man.i'm doing my job as a healer. I'm sorry for my grandson, but he wants to join the military when he's old enough. He thinks that by us housing you he won't be allowed to join now." A scoff is heard after this is said.

"Like they won't take me! I've more than proven myself. I'm worried about what they're going to do to you, old man. Especially when I'm gone."

"There's no need Ajeel. They know our customs. I'll be fine." The old man said calmly. "Now let's go check on our other patient."

Natsu heard their footsteps getting closer after the door was closed. He couldn't make up his mind. The two men seemed to have good hearts, but they were citizens of Alvarez. He knew there were good hearted men and women on both sides of the war, but he was still skeptical. Once he heard the door open though, his body made the decision for him. He heard the two in the doorway laugh as his stomach roar like a grizzly bear.

"I guess your friend is alive young Will" the old man said. With that Natsu decided to open his eyes and take a good look at his caretakers. The old man was tall, but hunched over with very little hair and a large cane he was using to stand. The younger wore baggy pants with what looked like cloth suspenders and a headband with the Alvarez crest on it. He looked a few years younger than Natsu, but built the same way. Natsu would have to say on first glance that the man would make a good soldier. Since the cat was out of the bag, Natsu decided he should sit up, but found himself unable to because pain shot throughout his body.

"Oh no. You won't be able to move much for some time son. With the wounds you received, it was a miracle that you were able to carry young Will out of the blast zone. If you weren't in great shape, I'm sure you would have died before we could get you back to our home" the old man said calmly.

"Ah… well thank you for taking care of us mister…." Natsu said after the pain subsided a bit and was surprised by how weak he sounded.

"Oh. just call me Yajeel" the newly named Yajeel said. "And there's no need to thank me. I'm a local doctor so I couldn't let you just lay there and die. It goes against everything I spent my whole life working for."

"Still… Thank you. How's Will?" Natsu asked as he wanted to make sure he was able to protect him.

"He's in much better shape than you are" Yajeel said. "His only injuries were wounds to his right leg. They were clean through so they're healing quickly. You weren't so lucky. You had shrapnel from the blast in your back that I was able to get out as they weren't that deep. But your abdomen has a nasty gash, and it seems some shrapnel aslo scraped across your throat and face. They'll heal quickly, but you'll have some new facial scars. The bullet wounds on your leg have already closed up pretty nicely but they'll scar too. The gash on your abdomen won't heal so quickly. It was deep, and it will take some time to close up. You do seem to be healing faster than anyone I have ever encountered before but I still give it at least a week before it stops hindering you from sitting up."

Natsu froze at this. A week bedridden? He didn't have that kind of time! He had to report that he and Will are still alright and awaiting pickup. They probably labelled the two of them as missing-in-action. That thought turned Natsu's blood cold. 'If they think we're missin, that means they've notified our families. Oh gods. I hope they didn't. I don't want to put my family through that kind of heartbreak.'

"Old man Yajeel" Natsu began which got him glared at by Ajeel. "Has Will contacted our forces to let them know where we are?"

"I'm afraid not son. We only have a wall mounted corded phone in our kitchen here." Yajeel said with a small frown. "Both you and Will will be too weak to head downstairs for a couple days more. Will should be able to in a day or two, but I've asked him to wait on that until I'm sure you two could handle the travel. We both know your forces will send an extraction team and you've both lost a good deal of blood."

"Okay...Well now that I'm awake what can I do to make me heal faster?" Natsu asked seriously.

"Idiot.. Just lay there and heal up. Even moving may reopen your stitches" Ajeel said irritably. Couldn't this guy see what a risk his grandfather was taking just housing them? And he can't even wait a week before getting out of here?

"Oh.. right…" Natsu said awkwardly.

"I have pain meds you can take that will help. You'll especially need them to swallow. Ajeel go get something for our patient to eat and drink. I'll take the IV out and get you those meds" Yajeel said as he began to slowly make his way around the room to do just that and Ajeel left grumbling about 'ungrateful pink haired wretches.'

As he watched Yajeel get what he needed Natsu said, "listen...I appreciate you wanting us to heal completely before you send us back, but it sounds like you're in danger with us staying here. I would hate for anything to happen to you or your family because of us. We'll leave as soon as I'm able to move."

"Don't be ridiculous, son. You two will stay until I say otherwise. It's kept you here this long and if you appreciate my work so much you'll listen to what I say" Yajeel said with a smile and Natsu knew he wouldn't win.

"Hehehe… are all doctors so stubborn?" Natsu asked with a sweatdrop remembering how he could never win against his mom.

"It's a learned behavior when we have to deal with so many unruly patients" Yajeel said with a small chuckle. "Here. Take these now and your food will wash away the taste. Ajeel should be back in a minute with something for you."

"Thanks old man" Natsu said which brought a smile to Yajeel's face. "ACK! This stuff's disgustin!" He now saw why Will was gagging so badly before.

"Well that's why you have to wash it down with food or something after" Yajeel said with a laugh. "It's very powerful and will help you up quickly, but it's also gross."

Ajeel came back with a plate full of something Natsu had never seen before and a cup or orange juice. "Eat up idiot" Ajeel said as he placed the food on the table next to Natsu before Yajeel raised the end of the bed so Natsu could 'sit up.'

"Thanks!" Natsu said excitedly. He loved food and was always excited to try new stuff. He started eating and found it was delicious. "What is this stuff?" Natsu asked between mouthfuls.

"It's called M'sakhan. It's chicken, sumac, and caramelized onions" Yajeel replied.

"It's delicious!" Natsu cried out. "You should really open a restaurant if your cooking is this good!"

"Ajeel made it" Yajeel said as he saw pride flicker across his grandson's face. "He's always been good in the kitchen, but decided against pursuing cooking as a career."

"But why?" Natsu asked. "You'd have the most successful restaurant ever if everything you make is this good!"

"Well I love my country and I don't want anything to happen to the people I hold dear. So I'll stand on the frontlines to protect them" Ajeel said while glancing at his grandfather.

"Heh.. I feel the same way. It's why I'm here. I had to send two men out on what was deemed a suicide mission so I volunteered myself and made them choose someone that volunteered. All of the men and women I serve with are precious to me, but they don't mean as much as those I leave behind when I deploy" Natsu said with a small smile on his face. "Let me tell yah this though, it'll be the hardest thing you _ever_ have to do. Every time you leave, you'll have to watch em breakdown and cry. It's noble to protect em, but you'll be hurting em at the same time" he followed up with seriously.

"I...I never thought of that" Ajeel said quietly.

"I never did either, but learned the hard way when I went to bootcamp" Natsu said. "But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I've been able to protect people. I'm sure you'll do great things if you join up, and I'm sure your family will be proud of you no matter what you do. I know my family is."

"Exactly right boy" Yajeel said. "But now we have to leave you to your rest. You won't heal if you don't rest up."

"Alright old man" Natsu said before he nodded towards Ajeel. "I'll talk to you later then."

"Right" Ajeel said, but it seemed he was deep in thought.

'Looks like he's finally absorbing the gravity of his decision. Well whatever he chooses, I'll support him' Yajeel thought as they exited the room. Before they went downstairs Yajeel opened the door to Will's room.

"Tomorrow you can get up and go see him. I'll have Ajeel bring you up a walking stick or crutches" Yajeel said.

"Thank you sir" Will said with a smile.

"Don't thank me for that. The crutches are just an added protection. But you have to make sure he doesn't leave his bed. Your friend doesn't seem the type to follow a doctor's orders" Yajeel said with a smile.

"Will do sir" Will said graciously. He was very grateful that this man found them and has been taking such good care of them. And with that the man left the two patients to rest.

 **(A Month Later)**

"Alright boy, I think you're just about good to go" Yajeel said as he checked on Natsu's wounds one more time. "Another few days and you'll be 100%."

"Thanks old man" Natsu said with a toothy grin. He was excited to get out of there. He liked the family a lot, but he had responsibilities back with his forces. "Tomorrow I'll notify the platoon that we're okay and need pickup."

"I wish you luck boys. Both of you. We may be on opposite sides of this war, but I hope you two stay safe" Yajeel said solemnly. "I've seen too many good men go down in my lifetime and not get back up."

"Don't worry sir, we'll probably get sent home with the injuries we've gotten" Will said with a grin. "Maybe even get some new medals to go with our cool new scars!"

"Says the guy with no face scars…" Natsu muttered and everyone laughed. "But thank you guys so much for takin care of us. I hope we can reach out and stay friendly after this conflict resolves itself."

"Of course we can!" Ajeel said quickly. He'd grown fond of the two men while they stayed and looked at Natsu as a type of mentor as he gave him some training tips. "We'll give you our address and number on a card so we can all get in touch when you get home."

"Good idea. I'll give you mine too now so if anything happens we'll know you have it" Natsu said as he looked around for a pen and paper.

"Yeah, I'll even send you guys pictures of my little girl!" Will said with a warm smile on his face. "I can't wait to see how much she's grown since I left."

"Don't worry bud, we'll get there sooner than you think" Natsu said as he put a comforting hand on Will's shoulder. "Soon she'll be running you ragged as you try and keep up with her."

"I can't wait. So I'm gonna hit the hay now so we can get there sooner" Will said with a smile as he made his way to the door. "Goodnight everyone." A chorus of goodnights followed him as he left.

"I hope your military doesn't come back when my boys come to pick us up" Natsu said seriously. "I'm glad you grabbed our weapons and nothin fell out of our pockets, but I'd rather not have to use any of it for a while."

"I hope so too boy. You two've been through a lot. I'd like you two to take it easy for a while now" Yajeel said.

"Yeah, don't want to go home to all of your lady friends lookin like a block of swiss cheese!" Ajeel said with a laugh. That made Natsu slightly panic as he knew that since they believed him missing for so long that his friends and family were going to be super overprotective and clingy when he got home.

"...Right" Natsu said with a sweatdrop. "I just hope Will makes it home alright after this. If I know my military like I think I do, they'll want me to stay to lead from the front."

At this Yajeel sighed. "You've got a lot resting on your shoulders for one so young. I hope you don't get crushed by all of the pressure you keep putting on yourself."

"Eh, I'll be fine old man" Natsu said as he waved him off. "I'm also worried if you'll get any backlash for helping the enemy for as long as you have."

"Don't you worry about us. The gods favor those that follow their teachings. We'll be fine" Yajeel said calmly.

"I hope you're right" Natsu said. "Well, anyway, I'm gonna head up. Goodnight guys."

"Goodnight" the two family members returned as Natsu made his way to bed.

"You really believe we'll be fine gramps?" Ajeel asked.

"Of course my boy. We have nothing to fear" Yajeel said with a smile.

The next day Natsu called in an evac for himself and Will and was told they'd be there in two days. So for the last two days, Natsu and Will helped out around the house and rested when they were scolded to by Yajeel.

The day they were to get lifted out of there Natsu and Will made sure their weapons were reloaded, their ammo was easily accessible, and Yajeel made sure they took some medical supplies with them, which was greatly appreciated.

"Alright old man, they said they'd be here at 1100 sharp so we gotta start gettin' up to the hill just outside town soon" Natsu said as he and Will walked into the kitchen.

"Okay boys I wish you luck and a safe journey" Yajeel said with a small smile.

"Thank you sir. We thank you again for your hospitality" Will said with a small bow.

"It wasn't a big deal. You two made it easy on us" Ajeel said as he waved off the thanks.

"I'll be sure to get in contact with you guys somehow after we get back to base. Or when we get back home. Whenever I'm able to" Will said as he smiled along with the rest of them.

"Alright Will, let's move out" Natsu said as he took the safety off his gun. "Out the back and keep your head down. Once we're at the end of the block throw your helmet on and we'll bounce until we hit the chopper."

"Aye sir!" Will exclaimed as Natsu opened the back door and led him out into the back alley.

"Goodluck boys" Yajeel said more to himself.

"Is something wrong gramps?" Ajeel asked.

"No...just a feeling" Yajeel said as he turned and began to go upstairs to clean out the rooms the two used. Ajeel hummed at that and gave one last look to where the two disappeared before he closed and locked the door and went to help his grandfather.

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 **Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a review as it really helps me know if y'all liked it or not! I'm going to try to update a bit faster from now on, but I can't really promise anything. Work is crazy right now. Until next time.**


	4. Finishing What We Started

**The newest chapter is here! I cleared my Saturday to work on cranking this out. I had been working on it a little bit at a time but decided that I'd try to make good on my promise to upload faster. That being said, I hope you enjoy!**

 **Once again I sadly do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.**

Natsu and Will made their way towards the edge of the small town where they were told their meetup was going to be. They still weren't sure if it was going to be a helicopter or a car that was picking them up. Natsu personally hoped for a car, because he had a feeling the skies were being watched. Especially since the Alvarez forces seemed to know that a couple Fiore boys were in town.

The two had just about made it to the edge of town. They had studied a map that Yajeel gave them when he demanded they rest, so they had a good idea how to navigate around. They exited one alleyway when Natsu, who was leading, noticed three men that looked suspicious. Before they could be spotted he forced Will back into the alley.

"What is it sir?" Will whispered to Natsu as he turned to cover their backs.

"I'm not sure. Those guys just hangin out on the corner seemed off to me" Natsu replied.

"Off?" Will questioned curiously.

"Yeah. Feels like they don't belong here" Natsu answered as he peaked his head around the corner. It was times like this that he was glad Yajeel and Ajeel agreed to helping him dye his hair back to black, since the salmon could be seen in his roots. Now he wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb in a town where most people had black or dark brown hair.

"What do you mean sir?" Will asked.

"I told you to just call me Natsu" Natsu said after a sigh. "I mean that even the locals seem to be givin those guys a wide berth. They may be undercover military operatives."

"I see" Will said slowly. "So what do you want to do?"

"Let's backtrack and go around" Natsu replied. "We can go North a block or two before we make our move out of here."

"Aye Sir!" Will said as he and Natsu swapped places since Natsu demanded that he lead.

The two made their way back to the other end of the alley. Once there Natsu took a more detailed look around now since he knew there were at least a few enemies around. He saw nothing and the two continued on their way. They went north for three blocks just because Natsu knew they had time and he was being overly cautious. He didn't want Will to get injured again after they both just healed up. He didn't want to get hurt either, but he made Will his priority since he had a little girl to return to. They managed to make it to the edge of the town without being seen and hid behind some dumpsters while they tried to get their bearings. Natsu looked at his watch and it read 10:15, so they had 45 minutes before their ride showed.

"Alright, we'll stay here for another 40 mikes then we make our way to the main road out of here where our ride should have no problem grabbin us" Natsu said as he peeked around to see what their immediate area looked like.

"And still no idea if it's a car or a chopper?" Will asked as he scanned the area too.

"Nope" Natsu said. "But I hope its a car. Especially since we saw those three soldiers before."

"Right" Will replied before both fell silent and getting lost in their thoughts. Natsu thought about how his family would react when he returned home and how crazy they would be. He wasn't sure if Wendy would let him out of her sight anytime soon. This thought made him chuckle to himself, which caught Will's attention.

"What's up Natsu?" Will asked, causing Natsu to smile.

"I was just thinking that I don't think my sister is gonna to let me out of her sight when I return home after goin MIA for a month" Natsu said which caused Will to chuckle quietly too.

"I know what yah mean. I hope I can survive the crushing hug I know my wife and baby girl are sure to give me" Will said with a fond smile as he took the picture of his two girls out to glance at it quickly.

"HAHA I can't say I envy you there... . although my mom and dad seem to have superhero strength and will probably pop my head like a zit when they get their hands on me" Natsu said with a shudder. "And that's not even countin what my friends are gonna to do to me. They've always been….forceful."

Will laughed at that. He'd been told some stories about Natsu's friends and they seemed the type to kick his ass for scaring them so badly.

"Yeah…. My friends aren't anything like yours, but I'm sure they'll show how much it means to them that I made it home" Will said when he calmed down. "I just hope they don't kill yah….I'd hate to lose yah after everything we've been through."

"Har har" Natsu replied sarcastically.

"Plus, I have to introduce you to my wife's friends!" Will added with a smirk. Natsu groaned at this. Ever since he told Will, Ajeel, and Yajeel about his girl troubles they haven't left him alone about it. Then Will threw in that his wife had single friends and the three had a field day mocking Natsu until he went into his room to escape the 'hyenas' as he later called them.

"You're not going to let that go are you?" Natsu asked exasperatedly.

"Not anytime soon at least" Will replied with a laugh, which caused Natsu to smile slightly. He always became happier when his friends were happy. Even if it was at his expense.

"Alright, alright" Natsu said. "Well, we got 20 more minutes before we gotta move."

"Don't change the subject sir" Will said which almost made Natsu groan. They were making such progress at addressing each other normally! "You're only an hour drive from my house. Women aside, I'd like you to meet my family when all of this is said and done."

"I'd be honored to meet your family" Natsu replied. "From what you've said about them I couldn't refuse if I wanted to!"

"Nope!" Will said with a laugh. "The wife will demand to meet the man that saved my life."

"Don't go all mushy on me now Will" Natsu replied as he rolled his eyes. "I did what any of our brothers-in-arms would do. Plus if anyone saved you, it was old man Yajeel."

"True" Will said thoughtfully. "But if you hadn't gotten me out of that building when you did there was no way I would've made it. So seriously sir, thank you."

"It wasn't a problem Will" Natsu said as he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I just did what I know you'd have done for me."

"I don't know if I'd have had the willpower to carry you if our situations were reversed" Will said truthfully. "Yajeel said he couldn't believe you managed to get yourself away from the blast zone with those injuries, but to do it with someone on your shoulders should've been impossible. At least to him it seems impossible."

"Heh, well I've always been able to do what everyone else told me I shouldn't have" Natsu replied as he remembered a moment when he was younger and something similar happened.

"I can believe it, Natsu" Will said as he watched Natsu take a trip down memory lane.

"Alright" Natsu said quietly as he took another look around. "Time to go."

"Aye sir" Will said in the same tone as he looked around as well. When the two saw nothing out of the ordinary-or what they believed was the ordinary-they made their way out of town. The two stuck to the stone wall lines or bushes if they could. They were almost at their destination when they realized they didn't see anything to get them.

"So wanna bet on which way they get us out?" Will said as they sat down beneath the road a little ways off from the meet-up.

Natsu hummed in response. "I say 50 Jewel on a chopper."

"I'll take that" Will said with a shrug. "I say car or truck."

"Shake on it" Natsu said as he looked at WIll with a mischievous smile.

The two shook on it and decided to peek their heads up since they only had two minutes left. They still didn't see any movement around the area which made both of them a little concerned. Just as they were about to duck back down, they noticed a black dot on the horizon. They gathered themselves as they saw it getting closer. After a minute Natsu grinned an eye-shutting toothy smile and said, "Chopper. Knew it."

"Yeah, yeah" Will waved him off. "You'll get your Jewel when we get back to base."

"Keep your eyes open" Natsu said as he adopted a serious look after his silent celebration. "We can hear it, that means any enemy troops in the city will by the time we board. This may be a hot evac."

"I'm guessin you were hopin to lose the bet huh sir?" Will asked as he scanned the area.

"Yer damn right I wanted to lose" Natsu said. "But I knew the higher ups wouldn't put in enough thought to get us out of here the quiet way. They only want what's quickest."

"Bird's almost here sir, and I see no movement" Will said as he continued to look around.

"That's concernin to me" Natsu said. "They seemed to know that we were leavin soon, but don't react to a chopper?"

"Maybe they think it's one of theirs?" Will asked hopefully.

"We can only hope that's what they're thinkin" Natsu replied with a silent prayer that they were getting out of there scott-free.

The helicopter started to land in a field 30 yards from where the two were hiding out. It was landing in between the boys and the town. Once it fully landed and the door opened for the two to get on, all hell broke loose. The three Natsu and Will saw earlier, along with 17 other men appeared out of nowhere and began firing their machine guns at the helicopter. Natsu and Will began firing back, and managed to kill four of the hostiles since they were bunched together and made it easy. The soldiers then turned their attention towards Natsu and Will. The two sides began trading fire for what seemed like forever to the two trying to get out of there. Will managed to hit another one in the shoulder and his buddies saw this and took cover. Natsu knew that this was their chance.

"Go Will!" Natsu screamed over the sound of the gunfire. "I'll cover you!"

"Moving!" Will yelled as Natsu popped up to give cover fire. He rotated between the enemy soldiers' last known locations with his weapon set on three-round burst. One Alvarez soldier waited until Natsu started slowing his fire down thinking they would stay down, and in order to not run out of bullets, to pop up. He saw Will running and opened fire on him. Natsu watched on in horror as bullets ripped through Will's legs, arms, and one went through his shoulder.

"Will!" Natsu screamed and quickly turned his sights on the man firing and shot him in the head. By this time one of the helicopter crew members began using the helicopter as cover and was also firing upon the Alvarez soldiers. The helicopter was so loud, however, that he didn't hear Natsu's screams.

Natsu then became deadly accurate. It was almost like his newfound rage and pain allowed him to slow time slightly so he could get more accurate shots off. He was able to pick one off while he was trying to move up. Another two were picked off while one was trying to help the one that Will had injured earlier. When he popped up with his comrade on his shoulder, they both went down under Natsu's gunfire. A third was picked off because he stayed out of cover too long shooting at the crew member.

Once these three enemies were down, and the crew member was focusing fire on the closer two soldiers, Natsu knew it was his chance to move. He sprinted forward once he saw the friendly soldier forcing the enemies down into cover by rotating his aim. He slid on his knees up to Will and felt for his pulse in his neck. What Natsu did not expect was for Will to start talking.

"Sir" Will said weakly.

"Oh gods, Will!" Natsu yelled. "Stay with me buddy, we're gettin out of here."

"It….it hurts sir" Will coughed out.

"I know it does Will, but shut the hell up. Save your strength and complain about the pain later." Natsu said as he picked Will up and threw him and his gear over his shoulders. Natsu then ran and nearly threw Will onto the helicopter's floor where the co-pilot began attempting to stop the bleeding with Natsu. With both working quickly they managed to bandage his legs, which were the worse off and the co-pilot moved on to his arms. Natsu watched as the light seemed to begin leaving Will's eyes.

"Don't you dare Will!" Natsu screamed with tears in his eyes, which got Will to shift his eyes onto him. "Don't you dare give up after all we've been through to get here! Don't you dare give up when you've got a little girl that has been waitin to see her daddy! She needs you Will, focus on your family and don't you dare give up!"

Will smiled at this and raised a shaky hand towards Natsu. He grabbed it roughly as Will weakly said, "Thanks, sir. I owe yah two now."

"You don't owe me anythin idiot" Natsu said with a weak smile. "You owe it all to your two girls. And you'll show em how much they mean to yah when you get home."

"Yeah" Will said before he passed out.

"Good thing we stacked this with medical supplies" The co-pilot said as Natsu noticed he stabbed Will in the less damaged arm with what looked like an IV. "If not he'd have no chance."

Natsu grabbed the man roughly and stared into his eyes with a snarl. The man immediate became terrified. He'd heard stories of Lt. Dragneel's rage, but to see it was another thing entirely. The man thought Natsu was trying to set his soul on fire with just a look.

"I hear you say some dumb shit like that again and I'll break yer arm!" Natsu roared as he shoved the man back towards the medical supplies. "You'd better be able to keep him alive until we get back to base where we can really get him looked at or I'll hunt yah down!"

"RPG!" the man holding the enemies at bay called out. Natsu's blood froze at this. He immediately ran to where the man was and saw one of the Alvarez soldiers unpacking an RPG. At that moment the world stopped for Natsu. He and Will became so close while they were on their own. These other men were soldiers his military sent out on what seemed like a suicidal evac. Natsu felt the need to protect these men with his life course through his veins. He grabbed the other soldier's gun and ammo pouch, shoved him back towards the open door and said, "get that bird in the air!"

"Sir!" The man called out as he watched Natsu charge the remaining Alvarez soldiers.

"GO!" Natsu roared as he glanced back while firing both weapons towards the Alvarez soldiers. The man could only nod and jump in the helicopter, pull the door closed and scream, "Go!"

With that one word said, the pilot believed they had their cargo and began raising the helicopter in the air. The co-pilot looked horrified at his crew member.

"We can't leave Dragneel behind!" He said, still shocked.

"We have to! He said it himself and took off towards the enemy." The member fired back. The helicopter was high enough now to begin the trip back to base. They took off at full speed as the crew members saluted the brave Lt. Dragneel that they believed was going on a suicide mission to make sure they stayed alive.

 **(With Natsu)**

He charged at the Alvarez soldiers and quickly made progress as they turned their attention towards the helicopter that was taking off. Natsu managed to hit the soldier with the RPG before he slammed himself into cover. He peeked over and saw one of the soldiers running to help his friend or to get the RPG to take out the helicopter, Natsu couldn't tell. He also didn't care as he placed his gun down and used the other to pick the man off.

He quickly ducked back into cover, but the Alvarez troops were more preoccupied with the helicopter that was now making its way back towards the Fiore base camp. He picked up both guns and made his way to the side of the troops quietly. The helicopter was almost out of range and the remaining soldiers began breaking cover hoping to take it down. It was then that Natsu struck. He quickly reloaded his weapons with new magazines and unleashed both on the nine remaining troops. They didn't know what hit them as they all went down. Natsu dropped one of his guns and reloaded the other before finishing off those that were only injured. He walked over to each of the deceased and said a little prayer for their souls.

'I will get them back Will' Natsu thought to himself as he got up from paying his respects. He and Will had a good idea before of where the Alvarez base camp was, and it was going to be one hell of a trek. Natsu decided that with everyone thinking him killed-in-action or still missing, this would be a good time to move freely.

'I'm endin this war' Natsu thought with newfound determination blazing in his eyes with the intensity of the sun. He knew he'd only be able to move a little bit at a time but he didn't care. With the Alvarez soldiers everywhere and the local people that would inform the Alvarez military about a lone man wielding weapons walking around, Natsu decided that he'd begin his trek for a little then find someplace to hide out while he slept since he deemed it safer to move around at night. Before he left the area of the town, however, Natsu unloaded the clip from the gun he grabbed and put it in one of his pockets along with any from the fallen soldiers that would fit in his weapon. He then grabbed a large cloak from a drying line and began moving northeast.

 **(A Month Later)**

Natsu was finally coming up on the city that was being used as the command center of the Alvarez military. It had taken him a lot longer than he thought it would have. The city was much farther from where he started than he and Will had believed it to be.

Will. Just the thought of his friend hurt. Natsu had no way of knowing whether or not his friend made it after everything. He hoped beyond hope that he did. Not just because he didn't want to lose a friend, but because of Will's family. 'I hope I get to see you again Will' Natsu thought as he focused back in on his self-appointed suicide mission before his thoughts caused him to falter again.

From a small rock formation he overlooked the town where the brains of the Alvarez military was stationed. This was much deeper into Alvarez than the Fiore military had ever guessed. It was also much farther from the frontlines than Fiore's was. His first stop had been two cities over from where Yajeel and Ajeel lived, but quickly noticed that his guess wasn't right. There were troops stationed there, but not any of the heavy armor that Alvarez was rumored to have at its homebase.

As Natsu got closer to the base he had to become even more stealthy. The patrols of armed soldiers increased, as did the use of tanks or jeeps alongside them. He had to go completely around some towns and cities fearing that he was going to be found out at any time. There were days when he couldn't move at all since a company would be doing exercises near his hiding spot. There were a few times he managed to get lost. Natsu couldn't figure out how it happened, but he knew it didn't help that in order to get any information he was listening in on conversations he could overhear in bars and alleyways.

He knew that those movies where a guy gets the information he needs by sitting in a bar were exaggerated, but he never knew it was a complete lie. Natsu thought he'd get _something_ helpful. But overhearing the enemy troops' conversation as they got close enough to him where he held his breath- _that_ helped. He didn't really know the layout of Alvarez all that well, but when the troops named towns or cities, he found a way to locate what he was looking for. He used road and welcome signs as markers to help him navigate. He would follow roads so that he wouldn't get lost out in the wilderness and not be able to find his way out. Also because it made for easier travel, since the sides of the roads were cleared for 15 yards on each side.

Currently, Natsu was watching how the patrols made their rounds. He was paying very close attention to the four main entrances to the city. They seemed almost unguarded.

'I guess they wouldn't need to guard somethin so far from the battles like they would otherwise' Natsu thought to himself. 'Now let's see if there are any civies left in the city.' Natsu then scanned the city with his binoculars. He couldn't get a good idea since it was getting to be around 10:30 pm, so he just scanned to see if he saw any lights on in the houses on the edges of the city. After another 30 minutes or so Natsu got up to find a place he would be better concealed in so he could sleep. He was going to continue his overview in the morning when there will be more activity. He found a cave just big enough for him with an entrance in between two big rocks that he backwards crawled into so he could run if necessary. He made himself a makeshift pillow with his cloak and drifted off to sleep.

The entire time he was sleeping he dreamt of his family and friends. This seemed to be happening a lot more recently and Natsu couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. He just knew he always woke up with a smile on his face because of all of the good memories he got to relive at night. Last night's was of his first kiss which happened to be with Mirajane. He remembered how she made fun of him until he was on the brink of crying. She later told him that he looked so damn cute that she couldn't help herself, she had to kiss him. So he had his first kiss at 11 and it was by one of his main bullies, but now it was just a memory that made him laugh. It was too absurd not to.

But then he snapped back to reality and quickly got up, threw his cloak back on and scanned the area. He didn't expect there to be a patrol up here but he was taken by surprise once before. He slowly made his way back to his vantage point. Natsu got out his binoculars and began looking out over the city. He watched as the men and women began their daily exercises and drills. He saw the artillery unit take inventory of their ammunition, which he found to be very interesting. Especially since he saw there were no guards around the ammunition last night. He couldn't make out the boxes in the darkness, but he'd have to make sure to memorize where that was. He also attempted to memorize where a few other buildings of interest were. Namely the mess hall and the munitions depot. He hoped these places weren't so guarded during the night so he had larger areas to hide out or creep through. The most interesting thing Natsu saw, though, was that there were only military personnel in the city. He saw no other people in the few hours he watched the town.

Around 2 pm Natsu was tempted to make his way into town and try to steal some food, but he fought against that thought. The night before, he had finished the last portion of an MRE he'd been eating slowly over the last few days. He'd gone longer than a day without food before. So, he sat tight and continued to watch how the Alvarez troops moved during the day and what their patrols looked like. He noticed the foot traffic was much heavier during the day than it had been the night before.

With all of this in mind, Natsu crawled back to his hovel and began to formulate his plan. He didn't want to wipe out a city's worth of people, even if they were enemy soldiers. So he came up with an idea to get most of the soldiers to get out of the city so he could just cripple them by taking out their munitions, heavy weapons, and armor. 'This is going to be a long night' Natsu thought as he drifted off to sleep at 5 pm.

When Natsu woke up he saw that darkness had fallen. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was 11 pm. 'Perfect timing' Natsu thought to himself as he picked himself up and started making his way towards the city. He watched as a few patrols went by before he made his way into the city. He quietly made his way around, blending into the shadows and hiding behind dumpsters or cars when he heard someone coming. Natsu made it to the munitions depot without being discovered and grabbed what he could in terms of ammo and weaponry. He saw a large duffle and put a few weapons in there and ammo. He then grabbed some clothes that he could find and made his way back out to his ridge, where he set them up so look like soldiers. He did this a few times and it took him around 2 hours to get it set up the way he wanted. A couple of times he was nearly spotted and had to quietly take out the guards.

Natsu then did it to another ridge at the ridge line 90 degrees from his overlook position. He even managed to steal a couple of jeeps with mounted guns and park them up there by going the long way around the city with the lights off. He then buried some gunpowder around the two walls that the dummies were set up at. He wired them together so that one group would go off, then another would with a strike of a single match. They would continue to go off when they did to look like gunfire ricochets-or so Natsu hoped. His plan hinged on the soldiers being tired and charging to keep their base secured while he hid inside and set it up so that the headquarters would blow. This would crush their communication and hopefully seeing such an explosion behind their lines would cause the other Alvarez soldiers to freak out.

He glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost 4 am. He quickly moved a few boxes of grenades and one box of artillery ammunition a ways away from the rest. He hoped they were close enough to cause a chain reaction that reached the bulk of the artillery and anti-air ammunition. With that done, Natsu set up a line of gunpowder that went from the first box of grenades to the rest of the box of matches Natsu always carried with him in his gear since he loved fire.

Natsu went what he hoped was far enough from any house that the enemy troops would be in and fired his weapon at the first group of gunpowder by the walls. This woke everyone in the base up since they shouldn't have heard any gunfire. The soldiers scrambled to arm themselves and begin to do a sweep of the area. Natsu held his breath as his plan should come to pass.

The Alvarez soldiers grouped up into their squads and began sweeping the city for what caused the gunfire. They found a few of their night guards incapacitated in ditches around the walls or dead. They now knew they had intruders so they set off their alarms. The squads then began frantically searching for the intruders. The started sweeping buildings inside the city and sent a squad or two to check the perimeter.

Natsu couldn't believe it, his hopes were smashed. His plan failed. The gunpowder didn't go off to draw the enemies out of the city. He'd have to get closer and figure out another way to set it all off. While the city was crawling with enemy combatants. He made his way to the window of the building he was hiding in and looked out to see where exactly he was in relation to his setup. He saw he wasn't too far off, but when he looked down at the street he saw nothing but squads sprinting around.

'Ah to hell with it' Natsu thought bitterly. He took the pin out of a grenade and chucked it towards where he knew some of the gunpowder was. It was at this time he saw the squads starting to move towards the edges of the city. 'Maybe one of the perimeter squads saw the dummies' Natsu thought before he heard the grenade go off and some of the Alvarez soldiers scream in surprise. Natsu grimaced. What a terrible way to go for those that did get hit by the grenade.

He then heard what he had hoped to hear. What sounded like gunfire was flying along the first stone wall. Natsu silently cheered when he heard screams of "We're under attack!" "Man the western and northern parts of the city!"

He waited until he saw a good portion of the men and women move out before he made his way out of his hiding spot. He knew he had very little time before they realized the dummies weren't firing back. He made his way towards the eastern part of the city. Once he reached the edge, Natsu climbed up the stairs of a building until he reached the fourth floor. He quickly set his sights on the gunpowder and matches setup he left in a small park area of the city. He fired at the matches a couple of times before he saw one light. He moved to the fire escape of the building praying silently that he could get out of there in time. He made it to the second floor before the first explosion went off.

He sprinted his way down to the first floor as he heard a few other explosions coming from the other side of the building. 'Crap! They're going faster than I thought!' Natsu yelled in his head. He made it down to the ground and turned to run out of the city when he was thrown forward and the last thing he heard was the explosion as he felt white-hot pain take over his senses.

 **(At the Fiore Headquarters)**

"Sir!" a young radioman screamed out before the rest began to as well.

"What is it men?" The Colonel asked as he looked around the room.

"There's crazy chatter on the comm. The boys up front are saying a massive explosion can be seen in the distance behind enemy lines!" another radioman called out.

"That might be a massive munitions depot or artillery position sir" another said. As he processed this, the Colonel ran out of the room and demanded that they send in attack helicopters to push whatever advantage they were just given.

The General was up and heard this yelling from the Colonel. The General ran to the radio room and demanded that the radiomen tell all companies to attack with everything they have.

The attack was massive. Led by artillery shells that rained hell upon enemy positions, the armor and infantry were able to easily overtake different Alvarez lines. They captured almost 2/3s of the Alvarez military within the first 6 hours of fighting and continued to march their way deeper into Alvarez. At this point all the Fiore boys saw victory in this war as a certainty.

The air force, meanwhile, had led a few bombing runs over the lines Alvarez had drawn out in order to prevent the soldiers from simply retreating and regrouping. It also ended up taking out a few areas of artillery and armor. The attack and transport helicopters flew deep into Alvarez territory and saw a city that looked decimated. Half of it was no longer standing and was solely piles of rubble. The attack helicopters led the way and protected the transports as they landed. All of the Alvarez soldiers, however, were in no condition to fight. The pressure from the explosion knocked quite a few out, while others were unfortunately badly injured by debris or falling pieces of building. The Fiore military began capturing those that were able to walk by themselves, while treating the wounds of any wounded they found to the best of their abilities.

Twenty-four hours after the initial explosion went off, Fiore had secured its victory in the war. Both sides brought in their diplomats and began negotiations for peace between the two countries.

 **Thanks for your review DarkSlayer7799!**

 **Acochran- Thanks for your review too! I'm sorry to say my writing seems to stay on the sadder side. It wasn't my intention but it seems to be the way the story's going. I'll work on switching it up with my other stories, but its too late for this one :P**

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the newest chapter! Once again please R &R as it really helps for my future stories. And I do take what everyone says into consideration.**


	5. The Beginnings Of Peace

**I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters. All ownership goes to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Here's the final chapter. I hope you've enjoyed the journey as much as I enjoyed writing it and I look forward to your comments and reviews!**

 **Kaimori- I'm glad you like it! I like going back and reading it all after each chapter.**

 **Acochran- Thanks for the review! I was really worried the action scenes weren't going to be up to par to other stories. Hope you like the ending as much as you did the first chapter.**

 **Darkslayer7799-I'd love to read your thoughts anyway! Message me or comment them please! I'm glad you're enjoying the story**

 **As a 25 year old man I'm not gonna lie, this chapter made me tear up writing it. Enjoy.**

* * *

News of the victory over Alvarez quickly swept across Fiore. Many rejoiced as they were all hoping the war would end soon. The press couldn't get the information out fast enough. No one knew the cause of the explosion that marked the beginning of Fiore's attack, but they thanked the gods that it happened. Celebrations were had all around. Military family members, friends, and those who had no connection besides sympathy to all they had been through celebrated that their military members would soon be home with them.

The Dragneels were incredibly happy that the war was over. Zeref, Mavis, and August made plans to fly out to Magnolia and stay for the whole of December with their family. Their spirits had been raised incredibly high. They now had new hope in their hearts that Natsu would return home to them. Igneel and Grandine could still remember the phone call they received about Natsu.

 _ **(Flashback)**_

Igneel and Grandine had just finished their dinner when the phone rang. They weren't expecting an update from Wendy and no one else they knew called this late besides Zeref, but he schedules his calls. Igneel looked at the caller ID and didn't recognize the number right away so he was going to ignore it, until he heard Grandine gasp and move to answer the phone. He guessed she knew it since she was always really good at memorizing numbers. Grandine put it on speaker and said, "Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Dragneel?" A male voice replied that Igneel could have sworn he knew.

"It's actually me and my husband. You're on speaker phone sir. I hope you're calling to give us good news" Grandine said as she began tearing up. It was at this point Igneel remembered where he had heard this voice before. It was the CNO that had visited them months ago.

"Oh, good" the man replied. "I'm calling to see if you're home. I have news and I'm heading towards your house now."

"Yes we're home" Grandine choked out.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes" was all the CNO said before he hung up.

He arrived in 5 minutes just like he said and the Dragneels brought him into the living room to sit and talk.

"I'm here to inform you that your son had made contact with his unit and they sent a helicopter out to pick him up" the CNO said after a few minutes of silently readying himself.

At this both Dragneel started to cry and were about to celebrate their good fortune when the man said, "But…"

"But what sir?" Igneel asked. He knew when that was thrown in it was never good.

"But.. ahh…. Their evac zone went under heavy fire." Both Dragneels gasped at this. "Your son and his partner, along with the crew of the helicopter fought back, but it seems they were outnumbered."

"Wha…. wha-what are y-you saying?" Grandine asked.

"His partner William McBride was injured pretty badly and Lt. Dragneel and the medic on board patched him up as best they could. One of the crew members saw the enemy troops assembling a rocket-propelled grenade and called it out. His report was as soon as he finished calling it out, your son grabbed his gun, shoved him into the helicopter and ordered them by rank to take off without him." The man said as he hung his head, knowing this would be a painful blow to a family that was already suffering.

Both Dragneels covered their mouths with their hands for the whole story. When it finished they grabbed onto each other as they knew they would crumble without the other's support.

"What...Wha-what happened to my son?" Igneel choked out and he and Grandine hung their hopes on the man's answer.

"We...we don't know" the CNO stated truthfully. "He was outnumbered nine against one. The crew… well the crew said they didn't think he survived the ordeal."

At this the Dragneels both began sobbing uncontrollably. The held each other close for their own comfort. They heard the CNO mournfully mutter "this is the worst part of this job" as he waited for them to calm down enough to continue. They continued to cry for about 20 minutes before they calmed down enough to listen to the CNO.

"I want you to know that unless we find a body or receive a report otherwise, Lt. Dragneel will remain missing-in-action" the CNO said as calmly as he could while watching a family break down in front of him. "Also, when we receive any new information, you will be the first to know."

"Th-thank you" Grandine said through her sniffles.

"We..we know its not an easy job you have. Thank you for being so patient with us" Igneel added.

"I told yah before. Don't thank me until we bring your son home" the CNO said as he got up. He wanted to give the family time to grieve in private. "You and your son are all in my prayers" the CNO said before he left and closed the door behind him.

 _ **(Flashback Ends)**_

Igneel and Grandine kept this second visit a secret from the others since it would distract them from their lives. Wendy still had another few weeks of school so she had to concentrate. Zeref and Mavis had their jobs to focus on as well. They knew that they should tell them, but they wanted to protect them.

Now that they war was over, however, Grandine and Igneel hoped to find out what really happened to their son. Yet they heard nothing.

 **(A Few Months Later: The Magnolia New Years Celebration)**

The Dragneel family wasn't in a party mood when the holidays rolled around. They didn't go out where they would see happy families enjoying their time together more than a few times. For the most part they locked themselves away in their house. Their friends and loved ones continually visited them, knowing that they were going through a hard time. If they were being completely honest, every one of them was too. They hadn't gotten any updates on Natsu since the war ended.

Everyone thought it would take a short amount of time before they got any news on Natsu. But days became weeks and weeks became a month and still nothing. Igneel and Grandine still refused to tell anyone about the second visit of the CNO, but were calling him at least once a week begging for some good news. They were unfortunately turned down every time, but the CNO told them to stay positive because this sometimes happens during the aftermath of a war.

Thus comes New Years Eve. It was usually one of Wendy's favorite times of the year. The streets are decorated and beautiful, people are all out having a good time, everyone is happy and nice, but this year she didn't want to celebrate. She just took to locking herself in her room crying over a picture of Natsu holding her in a bear hug. It was easily her favorite as she loved how happy they looked in the picture and wished to go back. Natsu's friends had been coming over everyday since Christmas in order to try and help the Dragneels in any way they could. Now, however, they got all of their loved ones together and performed an almost military-like raid to drag the family into town.

Wendy was not happy that Lucy and Lisanna managed to get her out, but she didn't stay mad for long. Everything was so pretty and everyone was so happy that it took her mind off Natsu. The same went for the rest of the Dragneels. The friend group dragged them to do some shopping in the local stores and at the vendors along the sidewalks. The friend group smiled at each other as they saw their plan was working. They managed to weasel the entire group to the end of the parade where the announcers and special guests were waiting to get started.

The group was completely happy and had managed to enjoy the day until the announcers started speaking.

"Today we celebrate a New Year with a lasting peace!" one of the announcers said which got a roar of approval from the crowd. "With the war over and most of our military back home with us the Mayor decided he would do something special."

At this everyone in the group cast their eyes to the Dragneels began crying silently, as did the girls of Natsu's friend group along with Gildarts. With two simple sentences, the happy day was ruined.

"Thank you Mary" the Mayor said before he cleared his throat. "I was asked to have members of Fiore's finest come here to receive their medals and give a quick speech."

"First we have Airman Phillips" The mayor said and Wendy looked up to see a group of five men and three women lined up ready to receive their medals. She saw the last one was in a wheelchair, which instantly made her feel bad for him.

Wendy zoned out of the speeches until the final member was to receive his. Her only thoughts were of Natsu. The Mayor then said "Second Lieutenant William McBride."

After his name was called Wendy heard Grandine and Igneel gasp and begin to sob. She looked up and saw her parents openly crying. Curious, she turned and gave Will her full attention. The rest of the group noticed this as well and began paying close attention too.

"Lt. McBride will receive the Distinguished Service Cross for his time spent beyond enemy lines that eventually led to victory, the Purple Heart for the injuries he received during this mission, and the Alvarez Campaign for participating in the war." The Mayor said which caused the crowd to roar out its approval since they learned he was one of the reasons the war ended when it did. Once they quieted down, Will began his speech.

"Thank you. I'm honored to receive these medals and plan on wearing them proudly from here on out. However, I am lucky to be standing before you today. War is hell on Earthland and not many people realize the consequences of starting or participating in one. We here get to celebrate our victory on this day and pray for a peaceful New Year, but there are those that are suffering. My time overseas allowed me to form bonds with many men and women, however some of those bonds were cut as they fell. I say that I am lucky to be here before you today, not just because of the war ending, but because of a man that I hold dear to my heart as does my wife. I would not be here today to celebrate this victory with you were it not for First Lieutenant Natsu Dragneel."

At this most of the town became quiet. The loud-mouthed kid that many of them knew one way or another had yet to return and they all knew it. Their hearts bled for the Dragneel family and prayed that Natsu would come home soon.

"Twice he saved my life when we were behind enemy lines. Twice he defied all logic to do so. The first time he fought through his injuries, which were arguably worse than mine, to carry me to safety. We were found by two kind-hearted doctors in Alvarez who nursed us back to health within a month. The second time was when we were supposed to be leaving. We had ordered an evacuation to get us out of there and back to base where we could relax and probably come home. Our military wanted to do it the quickest way possible and sent a helicopter to come pick us up. We were ambushed once the chopper landed." This got a resounding gasp from the crowd.

"I was hit badly and couldn't move a muscle. Natsu was able to get me to the helicopter and help bandage me up before demanding we leave him behind so he could cover our escape. Both times he saved me, and both times he reminded me of what was waiting for me at home: my wife and daughter. That allowed me to fight harder for survival than I probably would have. I am here today to inform the Dragneel family that when Natsu comes home, wheelchair or not I plan on helping you beat him for making us worry about him so much."

At this point most were sobbing until the last line where everyone began to give watery chuckles. The Dragneels were distraught. Here was yet another life that Natsu influenced so greatly and he believed Natsu was still alive! He was one of the last people to see him alive and believed he stayed that way! This caused a feeling of hope to blossom itself in their chests.

"So while we here get to celebrate our victory, please keep in mind those that are in mourning. Not everyone made it home and some are still over there overseeing the negotiations. So please, if you can be there for them." Will finished with a large smile as the crowd went wild with cheers and applause.

"Before I step back, I'd like to invite the Dragneel family up on stage" Will said with a smile. "I'd like to meet the family of one of the men I respect above all others."

The Dragneels looked around them as saw their friends all giving them nods. They didn't even bother to hide their tears as they made their way to the staircase leading up to the stage. Will had, at this time, moved away from the mic to meet the family on the side and the mayor took over talking about how great it was that these men and women were from their area.

Once they reached the top, the Dragneels all shook Will's hand and thanked him for his service.

"Oh, no need to thank me" Will said with a smile. "If anything I should be thanking you! Your son saved my life multiple times. My family will forever be indebted to him and you all."

"I'm sure Natsu would tell you to stop being so mushy" Grandine said with a small watery smile. "But we're going to thank you for your kind words. We just hope he comes home soon."

"You and me both Mrs. Dragneel" Will said seriously. "I know he's still alive. He's too stubborn to die."

This got the family to laugh, which was a miracle given the topic of conversation.

"Yeah…. my son was always hard-headed" Igneel said once he stopped laughing.

"I won't let him ever leave again when he comes back" said Wendy determinedly.

"I take it you must be the little sister he always talked about" Will said smiling at the girl.

"He-he talked about me?" Wendy asked.

"Of course. He talked about all of you and how much he loved you" Will said. "But he always had a story or something to say about his little sister. The way he talked about you, you're his best friend."

At this Wendy began sobbing again and was brought into a hug by her mother. "I just miss him so much!"

"We all do baby. We all do" Grandine said as she and Mavis began tearing up again. Their attention was quickly brought back to the mayor as he ended whatever long-winded speech he gave before announcing, "and now, for our guest of honor! He's someone you all at the very least know _of…_ NATSU DRAGNEEL!"

Everyone froze. The crowd was too shocked to cheer. They had watched the Dragneels break down before when they reached the stage and they stared at them now to see their reaction. The Fairy Tail group immediately began bawling and stared at the Dragneels.

The Dragneel family couldn't believe their ears. Natsu was alive? How come they hadn't heard about this? That CNO promised them an update if he got one! How could he break his promise? Tears fell harder. How could they let them believe that Natsu was still missing. That he might be dead. How dare they?!

The family and Will turned to look at the other end of the stage. There, being supported by the CNO that had been updating the Dragneels, was Natsu. He was limping up the stage stairs on the far side with his head held high. Once at the top, he made his way to the center of the stage. Natsu stared at his family, who stared back. He raised his arms up and out, signaling for a hug. The crowd held its breath.

August was the first one to snap out of it. He sprinted forward yelling, "UNCLE NATSU!" as he launched himself towards his uncle.

"August!" Natsu cried back as he began crying and held his nephew close. He looked up and had no time to brace himself as Wendy came barreling into him in a flying hug that knocked all three down.

"NATSU!" Wendy screamed as she buried her face into his chest and held him close. She refused to allow him to move. If this was a dream she wanted to bask in it for as long as she could. She inhaled the scent of cinnamon that he always had and began crying harder and uncontrollably.

Natsu eventually got the three in a sitting position. By this time the crowd was bawling their eyes out. They had only seen such touching reunions on YouTube or other internet sites. To see it in person was so much more powerful of a message of love.

The crowd watched on as all of the Dragneels ran forward and slid to where Natsu was. The family hug got awes from the entire crowd as they watched the touching scene.

Seeing as Natsu wasn't going to be giving a speech anytime soon, the mayor decided to speak up.

"Corporal Natsu Dragneel is the reason this war ended. He single-handedly crippled the Alvarez war effort, and made it home. He suffered many burn injuries and his ankles were broken or sprained, as was his left arm. He has been awarded the Medal of Honor by King Toma E. Fiore for his service as well as the Purple Heart for the injuries he sustained overseas. He truly is a hero and someone we should all work to be as selfless as" the mayor finished as he brandished his hands towards the Dragneel family.

The crowd erupted into cheers. Many were still crying from the happy scene and were having a hard time cheering as loud as they wanted through their sobs. By this time the Fairy Tail group had made their way on stage and joined in the group hug. None cared to hide their tears. Their Natsu was back, and he was in one piece. Well, relatively one piece. He was still injured. But he was back regardless.

The Dragneel family couldn't get enough of Natsu. They were all holding onto some part of him, kissing his face, neck, hands, chest, whatever they could reach, and crying about how much they missed him. Mavis, Grandine, and Wendy were latched on his arms and waist like leeches while Zeref and Igneel wrapped the rest of the family in a big hug with 7 year old August still being held by Natsu.

"Okay guys, the people are waitin for me. Duty calls" Natsu joked weakly.

"Idiot" Wendy whimpered. "We were waiting for you first."

"I know Wends, and I promise to make it up to y'all however I can afterwards." Natsu said in a soothing voice before he looked over his family and friends. "Just let me go say a few words first."

They all reluctantly nodded and Natsu slowly got up. The CNO, who had been standing off to the side, helped him stand and, with Wendy, supported him to where the microphone was. August refused to be put down by Natsu and cuddled into the crook of his neck, while Wendy wrapped her arms around his waist and refused to let go too. Little Asuka had, somewhere along the line, joined the party and was being held by Natsu on the opposite side of August.

"Good evening everyone!" Natsu called out, which got him a roar of "Good evening" or "Hello"s before he really got started. "I just wanted to thank all of you for sticking around after the parade and festivities to hear some of my fellow men and women in arms give their speeches. I also wanted to correct something the mayor had said. I am not the main reason this war ended... The main reason is all of you. Not one man or woman I talked to while out on the front said they were there for glory. They were there to protect those they left behind. The desire to come home and see you all was what drove us everyday. We woke up everyday knowing it may be our last, but refused to give in to those dark thoughts because our thoughts of our families and friends we left behind overrode them. You all were our light. Our purpose. As Will said, not all of us made it back. Those men and women were more heroic than I could have ever been. I ask for a moment of silence to commemorate the fallen" Natsu and the people in the crowd bowed their heads in respect at this.

"I am glad to come home bringing peace and an end to the war with me. But I am ecstatic to be home and with my family and friends. I know for a fact that the only reason I am able to stand before you today is because their prayers and thoughts gave me the strength to pull through. The doctors pronounced me dead twice while I was in the military hospital" this got a gasp and more tears from the crowd, "but each time I felt as though it wasn't yet my time and I was pulled back. I can only thank you all for your support and be happy to be able to come home, a little worse for wear, but whole. Everything we do in the military is for you all here at home. I hope you remember that moving forward. Thank you all and may the gods bless you."

The crowd erupted at this. Sobs, screams, cheers, it didn't matter. The sound of the crowd could be heard in the next town over, and those watching the spectacle from their homes were moved into cheering for this young man's speech. All liked how humble this young man was and how instead of taking all of the praise he was given, he turned it onto the entire population. Making them all feel just how powerfully those in the military care for their country's population.

Natsu turned to his family, being supported again and gave them his legendary toothy smile that seemed to split his face in half. "Let's go home, yeah?"

* * *

 **So I hope you all enjoyed! I may do a follow-up or continuation of the story, but I'm not sure. I have a few other ideas for stories written down and kinda want to start on those. Please Review because I love reading them!**


	6. After the Parade

**I don't own the Fairy Tail Characters, only the plot. All credit for Fairy Tail goes to Hiro Mashima.**

 **Acochran- I know what you mean, and I felt it could've ended there, but it still left a lot unfinished so I was going to focus on a few other stories I'm working on. I just couldn't stay away from this one though.**

 **DarkSlayer7799- Those are about the ideas I have for any follow up I was going to write. I may put a poll up after I have Natsu go meet Will's family and some of his wife's friends, since I have that kinda planned out already.**

 **Alright Ladies and Gents, I've decided to just continue with this story here since I know I'd rather not have to go to two different ones if I wanted to read a story from start to finish once it's done. I hope you've enjoyed the ride and continue to enjoy the story.**

* * *

As the group made its way back home, Grandine rounded on the CNO. "How could you not tell us that we had him? That he was alive?" Grandine cried.

Natsu held up a hand to take the attention. "It wasn't his fault mom."

"Not his fault? Not his fault?! Then _who's_ was it? He promised to keep us updated on whether or not they find you!" Grandine cried.

"Mine!" Natsu shouted. This caused everyone to quiet down. "It was mine. I told them not to say anything."

"W-why?" Wendy asked as she teared up. She couldn't believe Natsu would do that.

"I….I didn't want you guys to get your hopes up" Natsu said honestly.

"What?" the Dragneels all asked, and the others thought.

"I wasn't lying in my speech" Natsu said sadly. "I died. Twice. Both times on the operatin table where they were lucky to bring me back. I couldn't have them tell you I was alive just to tell you I died in their care."

"Natsu…" Wendy breathed.

"So once I was finally making good progress I thought it was time to let you guys know. But then I saw that in two weeks they were havin me as a speaker here I figured I would work to get my strength up and tell you guys this way. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, but I couldn't hurt you more by giving you false hope."

"It's alright Natsu" Igneel said with hesitation. "You were doing what you thought would protect us. We can't fault you for that."

"I can" came the responses from the Dragneel women and most of the women of Fairy Tail as they huffed.

"Let's get you home sir" the CNO said after a brief pause took over. "I'm sure it hurts to be standing for this long."

"I'll be-OW!" Natsu cried as Wendy poked his arm.

"Yeah let's hurry home and get him on the couch" Grandine said as they made their way back home.

While they were walking Natsu called out to Gajeel. "Yo, metal face"

"What do you want Slamander?" Gajeel asked as he walked towards the injured man.

"Your piercing guys does tattoos right?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah. why?" Gajeel asked as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow.

"Great. I'll make an appointment then" Natsu said cheerfully.

"Excuse me?" Grandine said heatedly.

"U-uh… I'm getting a tattoo?" Natsu asked hesitantly.

"And for what reason?" Grandine asked in the same tone.

"I...uh...I'll show yah later" Natsu said quietly even though he had everyone's undivided attention.

"Hmm. that's fine for now" Grandine said and the rest of the walk was filled with different friends filling Natsu in on what he missed while he was away. Like how crazy Asuka's last birthday party was, or a drug bust (in Erza and Jellal's case). The Dragneels didn't mind, as they knew they'd have the most time with him now that he's home. They could catch him up later. Wendy was glad she decided to bring all of her journals home so he could read them and they could talk about what she did. That didn't mean she was going to let him go anytime soon though.

All of the Dragneels were ecstatic that Natsu was finally back. They were happier than they had been in months, maybe even since Natsu left. The two couples were holding hands and swinging them more than they normally would. Even August was happier, as he was almost skipping in front of Natsu with Asuka.

"I can't wait to play with you Uncle Natsu!" August said happily.

"Yeah!" Asuka added cheerfully. "We already picked what game to play!"

"Sorry kids" the CNO said. "Your Uncle Natsu here isn't really supposed to be out of bed."

Natsu groaned immediately after that left his mouth. He knew what was coming. Immediately all of the girls in the group (minus Asuka) turned heated stares at Natsu.

"You're supposed to be on bedrest?" Mira asked, voice dripping with fake sweetness.

"Yeah, or at least in a wheelchair. It was the only way the doctors let him out of the infirmary" the CNO said since he was unaware of what he just unleashed.

"I'm begging you, either kill me or stop talking" Natsu plead as the women rounded on him.

"And what happened to his wheelchair?" Mavis asked in much the same tone Mira used.

"Ah, he uh…. What I mean to say is uh…" the CNO stammered as he finally saw just what he did to the poor injured man.

"Answer the question" Erza said, malice dripping from every one of her pores.

The CNO sighed and gave Natsu an apologetic look, which caused Natsu to start tearing up.

"He….he threw it in a ditch" the man replied hesitantly. "Said he didn't need it and the doctors' didn't know how quick he heals."

"Is that so?" Lucy asked sweetly. "Well hopefully he can prove just how quickly he heals."

"H-hey, n-no need to be hasty. I'm already plenty injured" Natsu said as he tried to escape but realized Wendy still had a hold on him.

"Did I raise you to second guess a doctor's orders, Natsu?" Grandine grit out, not even trying to hide her anger.

"N-no Ma'am" Natsu cried out. He knew his only form of defense was to own up at this point.

"Then why did you?"

"T-to show I'm still capable of at least walking?" Natsu said.

"Was that the reason or are you asking me?" Grandine replied.

"Th-that was the reason" Natsu said hurriedly. Grandine smacked him upside the head, causing him to groan loudly stars swarmed his vision.

"Idiot" Wendy said heatedly.

"Sit him down on the bench there. Igneel go get the car" Grandine spat out and all of the men jumped into action. Igneel began booking it towards the house and the other men immediately got out of the way by 20 feet.

"I'm fine! The house isn't that far!" Natsu said indignantly as he was sat on the bench like a child. To add to the comparison he crossed his arms and pouted. Grandine was the only one that noticed he didn't sit far enough back to touch his back to the bench. She decided that had to do with what he was going to show her later.

"Natsu you are not fine!" Lisanna cried, while the other girls nodded in agreement. "You're supposed to be on bedrest!"

"That was only for another day or two max!" Natsu defended. "I'm fine!"

"You can't even stand up by yourself!" Cana argued. "Wendy had to help you stand up on the stage!"

Wendy, who was seated right next to Natsu nodded her head in agreement. "And you put most of your weight on me while we were getting up!"

"Alright!" Natsu cried. "I surrender!"

"Took you long enough" Lucy said as she puffed out her cheeks.

"I was gonna threaten you with no Asuka visits if you didn't" Bisca threatened.

"What?" Natsu said, shocked.

"What~?" Asuka cried. "But mommy I wanna see Natsu!"

"I know sweetheart, but he would be a bad role model if he didn't listen to his mom" Bisca said as she crouched down to her daughter. "You know you need to listen to me right sweetie? I only have your best intentions at heart."

"I know mommy" Asuka said as she wrapped her mom in a hug. As this was going on, Igneel pulled up in their SUV.

"Alright Natsu" Grandine said. "In."

"Alright" Natsu said before leaning heavily on the CNO and Gajeel, who came over to help, and got up. He shuffled over to the car and got in the back seat while his helpers got in the passenger and back too.

"We'll see y'all at the house" Igneel said as he began to drive home.

"You heard the man, let's go see Natsu!" Erza cried out which got everyone moving again with a cheer.

"I don't know if our house is big enough for everyone" Grandine said absentmindedly. "Right Wendy?" No response. "Wendy?" Grandine looked to where Wendy was and saw she was gone. "Where's Wendy?" Grandine was in the beginning stages of panicking. She didn't want one of her kids to come home for another to get lost.

"Relax, mom" Mavis said with a smile. "She and August ran ahead."

"Oh" Grandine said as she looked towards the house and saw blue and yellow running away. "I guess we'll follow them then."

The group arrived at the house 10 minutes later and saw Natsu sprawled out on the couch with Wendy sitting beside him telling him about the last few weeks, and August sitting on her lap. The other men were bringing out some folding chairs so a lot of other people could sit.

"And when I came home after finals, Zeref, Mavis, and August were here waiting for us! Even mom and dad were surprised!" Wendy said excitedly.

"Wow. That's a lot for only a few weeks" Natsu said with a toothy smile. "I can't wait to go over your journal with you."

"That can wait for a few days. I'm sure Zeref and Mavis want to spend as much time with you as they can before they go home" Wendy said.

"She's right" Mavis said from the doorway. This caused the trio on the couch to look up and see that everyone had arrived. "So how was your mission Natsu?"

"Diving right into the hard question, eh Mavis?" Natsu chuckled.

"Ah!" Mavis cried out. "I-I'm sorry Natsu! That was rude!"

"I'm kidding Mavis" Natsu said reassuringly. He waited for those that could sit to sit then said, "unfortunately there's not much I can tell you. The council ordered that the mission be classified after I was debriefed."

"When was that?" Gildarts asked.

"Yesterday" natsu replied. "They came to see me in the infirmary."

"Of course they did" Gildarts said darkly.

"I can summarize though" Natsu said cheerfully. "But some of the details you won't like."

"Please tell us Natsu" Wendy begged.

"I-I'd feel more comfortable if the kids weren't here" Natsu said hesitantly.

"Okay" Bisca replied. "Asuka, August, come with me. I'm going to show you all of Natsu's old toys."

"Uncle Natsu's?" both asked with stars in their eyes.

"Yes" BIsca giggled.

"Let's go, let's go!" Asuka cried as August nodded alongside her. The two then pulled Bisca towards the kitchen where August knew the basement doors were.

"Alright" Natsu said as he heard the door close. "I can tell yah I went behind enemy lines, got shot and nearly blown up-" this got a gasp from most of them there.

"I told them that mission was suicide!" Gildarts roared.

"And was found by a doctor and his grandson that took me and Will in and healed us" Natsu continued like he wasn't interrupted. "When we finally healed up and were trying to get evaced, we were ambushed" another gasp was heard from most mouths. A few still had their mouths hanging open by how casually Natsu was talking about this. "I told them to go without me, and I got the guys off the chopper. Then with no evac and no way to contact hq, I decided I'd find the enemy base. After awhile I did, did some reckless stuff, caused an explosion much bigger than I anticipated and almost died because of it."

"I told you before you left that you're too damn reckless" Igneel roared this time. "What were you thinking?"

"That by doing that I could cripple Alvarez enough to win the war" Natsu answered simply. Everyone just gawked at him. "It turned out even better than I hoped as the dust cloud could be seen from miles away, and was almost like an attack flare. Our boys had ripped through the Alvarez lines within two days after that because the enemy was so disorganized. I was found by our medics, given the best treatment they could, and then they got me back to our base as quickly as they could. They did their best to perform some emergency surgeries, revived me twice, and then demanded I stay on bedrest for the next few weeks. I listened because that was the only way they'd let me come home, but only until I was outta there."

"Wow" some of them breathed. Others were shocked into silence.

"I had to see a lot of things I'd rather I didn't and do a lot of things I'm not proud of, but I made it home" Natsu said with a face-splitting grin that got most of the audience to smile.

"Then what's wrong with your back?" Grandine asked as she noticed he still was leaning forward on the couch.

"My back?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, your back" Grandine replied. "I've noticed how you won't lean back on any chairs or anything."

Natsu sighed. "Nothing gets by you mom huh?"

"Not after all of this time working as a doctor in a hospital" Grandine replied. The others were shocked as they hadn't noticed that fact.

"I….I got second and third degree burns on the majority of my back" Natsu said as he looked at the floor. "They had to graft skin back on, and told me that I was lucky and wouldn't suffer any movement loss or anything like that because they were able to help me in time."

"Oh, so that's what the tat's for" Gajeel said after a second. "You wanna cover some scars."

"Yeah" Natsu answered with a small smile, then let out a small yawn. Everyone smiled at this.

"Well it is getting late, and all of this excitement has just about worn me out" Mira said cheerfully. "I think it's time to go home. It is coming up on 2 am."

Just as she said this Bisca came back holding the two kids. She passed off August to Zeref, who was standing by the kitchen door, and said, "yeah. Asuka here's already asleep. We need to get her home and in bed."

After this most of the gang said their goodnights and left. The only ones left were the Redfoxes, the Dragneels, Lucy, Lisanna, Gildarts, and Cana.

"I'll be back to see you guys tomorrow after work if that's okay?" Lucy asked as she got up.

"Sure thing honey" Grandine said as she gave her a hug.

"Make that a ' _we're_ going to be back tomorrow if that's okay'" Levy said happily. "I may have only really joined the family recently, but I couldn't ask for a better one. Plus I have to make sure my cousin is getting better."

"Levy's goin all mushy!" Natsu teased sleepily. Levy puffed out her cheeks at this until Natsu added, "but I'm happy all the same. I'd be happy to see all of you tomorrow."

"Good because I planned on coming by too" Cana said while Lisanna nodded in agreement.

"If you guys need me at any time to help, let me know" Gildarts said as he looked at Grandine and Igneel.

"We will Gildarts, but tomorrow we're both taking off and probably for the rest of the week" Igneel said.

"I'm just so happy you're home!" Grandine cried as the tears that she had been holding back for the past hour came out full force. This made the other two Dragneel women cry and they all gingerly held Natsu.

"Yeah, mom" Natsu said softly. "I'm home. And for good."

"What?" Zeref asked quietly, since he was still holding August. "Your contract's up?"

"No" Natsu said quickly. "But they put me on desk duty here in Magnolia for the remainder of it."

"Oh?~" Gildarts said with a smirk. " _You're_ gonna be the recruiter?"

"Hey, it's not so bad" Natsu defended. "I'll get to stay home for the next two years with no chance of deployment."

"That's great!" Wendy cried out through a sob.

"Now you'll be able to take that vacation to come stay with us!" Mavis cried.

"Yeah" Natsu said softly. "Yeah, I will."

"Alright, let's help the gimp up the stairs" Gajeel said, breaking the touching moment.

"Gajeel!" Levy said, appalled.

"It was a joke" Gajeel said as he raised his hands in surrender at the aura the women were sending his way. "I know he can take it."

"You ain't offendin me" Natsu said with a cheeky grin. "I'll be up and kickin your ass in no time."

"Gihi" Gajeel laughed at the challenge. "Bring it Salamander!"

"You'll get your metal face!" Natsu said before he felt the world turn quickly, only to come face to face with his mother.

"There will be no fighting until I give you the all clear, is that understood?" Grandine said heatedly.

"Y-yes mom" Natsu whimpered.

"O-of course Auntie" Gajeel said even without the dark look being sent his way. Man his aunt could be terrifying. It was almost like staring down a dragon.

"But good idea" Grandine said as her expression brightened. "You and Igneel should help Natsu up the stairs before you go."

"Right" Gajeel sweatdropped. How all of the women he knows can have such mood swings was beyond him. He and Igneel helped Natsu up, pried Wendy off of him, and got him upstairs. The waited for him outside the bathroom and once he was done they helped him into bed.

Grandine walked in to his room and said, "now remember Natsu, there's no leaving bed tomorrow. I will be home to make sure."

"R-right mom" Natsu said quickly. "I'll stay in bed. Just at 12 I need help rubbin some ointment they gave me on my back. And my stuff got dropped off at my apartment so I'll need to go grab it."

"We'll do that. You rest up" Grandine said, still smiling. "I'm so happy you're home honey."

"Me too mom. Goodnight" Natsu said. Grandine turned the light off and closed the door. Natsu just stared at the ceiling. It was surreal. He was home. He made it back home! Natsu honestly didn't think he would when he first woke up in the infirmary. There was so much wrong with him he didn't expect to make it. He almost didn't. But the love of his family and friends pulled him back and he couldn't be happier that he gets to be here with them again.

Natsu knew he'd have to make it up to them somehow. He made them worry so much while he was missing. He realized that as soon as he saw the tears they all shed when he was revealed. Not just his family, but his friends too.

Just as Natsu began to drift off, he heard his door being opened. He snapped awake and wish he could shoot upright to fend of the enemy….only for him to hear a soft voice coming from the doorway.

"Natsu?" Wendy asked.

Natsu took a deep breath. He was home, he didn't have to be on guard all the time anymore. "Yeah Wends?"

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" Wendy asked hopefully.

"Sure sis, c'mon in" Natsu said with a smile. He had a full sized bed so he didn't care.

Wendy ran to the other side of the bed and climbed in. She cuddled up to Natsu, and he could see sobs raking her body.

"Hey Wends, it's okay. I'm here now" Natsu said softly.

"I-I know. And I'm so happy about that" Wendy whispered through her tears. "But I missed you so much. It was like my worst nightmares came true when we were told you were missing."

"I'm sorry Wendy" Natsu whispered back. "But I'm home now and I'm home to stay. Now I get to finish my classes and have a regular life like everyone else."

"G-good" Wendy sniffled. "I-I'm glad."

"Goodnight Wendy" Natsu said lowly since he was almost asleep.

"Goodnight Natsu" Wendy said with a small smile. Just as she was drifting off she felt two small weights on her. She looked down and saw the cats laying on their respective owners. She smiled again and finally fell asleep.

* * *

 **Shortest chapter so far, but I wanted to end it there. Once again I hope you enjoyed and leave a review, as they really help and I enjoy reading them. I may put a poll up on who you want Natsu to end up with, but first I gotta figure it out. See yah next chapter.**


	7. Overbearing

**Acochran5- Thanks for the review! I'd be fine with that too, but that's one of the main complaints I see about some stories, plus I had some women already named as interests so yeah I might. I will add a 'no romance' thing to the poll if/when I put one up, unless some people say they don't want a romance in the reviews.**

 **Hiro Mashima owns the Fairy Tail characters, but this story is mine.**

* * *

Time seemed to crawl by for Natsu as he laid on his bed. His entire family would protest if he so much as got up without aide to go to the bathroom! The first time he did, Wendy had freaked out.

 _ **(Flashback)**_

 _Natsu woke up, freaking out yet again as he didn't recognize the bedroom at first. He saw a darker room he remembered being in and quickly looked around to see if he was being monitored. It was then he realized he was home, in bed with the cats and Wendy. It was then he calmed down a bit, and decided he could make it across the hall to the bathroom by himself. He got Happy to move with a gentle nudge, and the cat jumped down off of his chest and onto his pillow. Natsu smiled at this as Happy curled back up and fell asleep._

 _Natsu quietly crawled out of bed and put his feet on the ground. He tested the strength of his ankle that was still bothering him by stretching out his leg a few different ways. It still hurt, a lot, and he winced when he moved it a certain way. Nevertheless, Natsu felt nature call so he forced himself up and began hobbling across the room. He closed the door quietly, and made it to the bathroom door when he heard Wendy stirring in bed. Probably missing his natural warmth, Natsu mused._

 _He opened the door to the bathroom when he heard Wendy scream._

" _No! It can't have been a dream! He was here, I know he was!" Wendy cried, loud enough to wake their parents, who rushed out of their room and saw Natsu half in the bathroom. They froze slightly when they realized what happened. Zeref and Mavis came out too, looking somewhat crazed._

 _Wendy came bursting out of Natsu's room, sobbing uncontrollably. She immediately noticed Natsu, ran to him, and latched on._

" _I thought it was a dream" Wendy cried into his chest._

" _No Wends. I'm home. And will be forever now" Natsu said as he held his sister close._ 'Guess I'm not the only one with problems now that I'm back' _Natsu thought to himself. His family all then came over and group hugged. All giving Wendy soothing words to help the hysterical girl calm down._

" _Let me get ready for the day, then we'll start going through your journals, alright Wendy?" Natsu said calmly. Wendy nodded and let him go._

" _By the way Natsu, why didn't you call us to help you?" Grandine asked, sweetly._

" _I...uh….didn't want to bother you?" Natsu said hesitantly._

" _You know you aren't supposed to be walking around by yourself" Grandine scolded as she poked him in the chest. "You're on bed rest, with two bad legs! You're not supposed to be up walking around!"_

" _I can handle going to the bathroom, mom" Natsu said as he rolled his eyes. Grandine looked at him closely, searching for something, then slapped the back of his head._

" _Don't you roll your eyes at me" Grandine threatened. "You will do as I say. I'm the doctor here and I say you won't be walking around without support. I'll get you some crutches or something if you don't want to ask your father or brother, but you will_ not _be walking on those legs. Do you understand me?"_

" _Y-yes ma'am!" Natsu saluted, which got everyone to chuckle lightly except the two._

" _Good. Call down when you're done. Your father will help you down the stairs when you're ready. I'm making steak and eggs and we have that hot sauce you like too." Grandine said with a small smile before she hugged him, hard. "I'm so glad you're home, sweetie."_

" _Glad to be home, mom" Natsu said as he hugged her back, though not before wincing in pain as his torso was still raw from the burns._

 _Natsu then went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and opened the door, to find Wendy standing in the hallway, waiting for him._

" _Uh, Wendy….did you stand there the whole time?" Natsu asked as he raised his eyebrow._

" _Yes" Wendy nodded. "I need to make sure you won't disappear again."_

 _Natsu sighed at this. "Wendy, I told you I'm not going anywhere. Especially like this. So you can relax a bit. I'm gonna head down for breakfast now. Come down after you've brushed your teeth."_

" _Dad!" Wendy called out and Natsu groaned._

" _Yeah?" Came the voice of Igneel from his bedroom door._

" _Natsu's trying to go downstairs without help!" Wendy called back. They both immediately heard an angry squawk from downstairs and then the bedroom door opened to Igneel being fully dressed._

" _Do you want your mother to beat you, boy?" Igneel said with a mischievous smile. "She'll make sure you stay in bed if you don't listen. Remember how she tied to to the bed when you had the chickenpox?"_

 _Natsu paled at the memory. "Wendy just didn't give me time to call you, honest!"_

" _That better be the case young man!" Came the irritated voice of Grandine from the stairs._

" _I-it is mom!" Natsu panicked._

 _Igneel laughed heartily at that. It always amuses him that Natsu was terrified of his mother. Especially since he could easily handle her now._

" _Let's get you down stairs son. I'm sure you missed your mother's cooking while away" Igneel said as he wrapped his arm around Natsu's waist and Natsu's arm around his shoulder._

" _You have no idea, old man" Natsu agreed, smiling brightly at the thought of Grandine's cooking._

" _We'll see you downstairs, Wendy" Igneel said as they went down, Wendy slightly tearing up in happiness before going into the bathroom._

 _ **(Flashback End)**_

Natsu knew that him being missing would make his family clingy and protective. He also knew his father was serious when he said he'd be strapped to his bed, again. But it was ridiculous that he was being treated as a toddler.

' _No, August has more freedom than I do now'_ Natsu thought to himself. Natsu loves his family deeply, but he knew he could handle walking around the house by himself. Probably. Except for when his injuries throbbed all at once. Then he usually gasped out and had almost collapsed a few times. But still he could walk around a house without help! And he had no intention of trying to go outside until he was healed up more. He was effectively on house arrest.

Then he thought of his friends and groaned again. When they were around it was almost worse! He knew they'd act on how much they missed him and feared for his life when he was missing, but it was suffocating. Everyone treated him like he was made of glass and he hated it. But he couldn't stay mad. He knew it was because they all wanted him to recover and had missed him dearly. ' _But, the snacks they bring are great'_ Natsu mused. Each time one of the girls come over, they brought some kind of snack that they cooked for him, or bought on their way over. He protested every time, even though he was happy to get the gifts, because he knew that must be expensive for all of them, and he didn't want to burden them any more.

Natsu heard the light footsteps on Wendy coming down the hall and fought back a groan. He loved his little sister with all of his heart. She was his best friend and confidant. He knew she felt the same way, but the constant contact and almost crying he's had to deal with has gotten to him. He was laying in here with the lights off (after sneaking into the bathroom by himself) to dissuade his family from bothering him. He just wanted some quiet time to reflect on what he went through. He's more than noticed he's got a case of PTSD, and wanted to figure out if he could work through it himself or if he needed to seek help.

The first time he handled it himself. Or so he thought, until Wendy came to him bawling her eyes out about how he was going to drown himself in alcohol. That sobered him up real quick. He swore he wouldn't do that again, and nearly quit drinking all together. He decided he'd have a couple here and there with his friends, but then realized how little contact he really had with his friend group. It almost seemed to him like they were leaving him out on purpose.

Natsu shook his head to clear his thoughts. His friends loved him. They said they finally noticed and were going to make the effort to be better friends to him.

' _Why am I so focused on the negatives?'_ Natsu thought to himself. His thoughts when alone had become more and more depressing and dark. He felt like nothing but a burden on his whole family and all of his friends. ' _Maybe….maybe I do need help.'_

A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Natsu?" Wendy asked. "Breakfast is ready. Do you want me to bring it up to you?"

"No Wends, I'm getting up" Natsu said with a small smile. Maybe Wendy was calming down. She didn't just barge into his room today, anyway.

Natsu walked over and opened the door to be met with Wendy's beaming smile.

"The doctor said you should be fine to walk on your own" Wendy said with a giggle. Whenever either got hurt or sick they'd call Grandine "the doctor" instead of mom. "Just don't go crazy and ask for help if you need it."

Natsu breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe now they'd start treating him normally again.

"Thanks nurse" Natsu said with a cheeky grin, which Wendy tried to pout at, but couldn't hide her smile.

"C'mon!" Wendy said as she grabbed his hand and headed for the stairs. "Mom made pancakes!"

"Whoa" Natsu said as Wendy tugged on his wrist. He laughed, guess they knew he was better already. His back still hurt, but it wasn't mind-numbing anymore. His legs were fine, he just needed to walk around a bit to strengthen them back up. The two got down to the kitchen, but Natsu noticed bags by the front door. They saw Zeref, Mavis, and August up and eating already.

"Guess you're leaving today huh?" Natsu asked as he sat down.

"Yeah, can't take any more time off unfortunately" Zeref said with a small smile.

"I can't wait for you to come visit Uncle Natsu!" August cried out as he moved to where Natsu was. Even though he knew it wouldn't be a great idea, he still picked up his nephew and sat him on his lap, ignoring the stabbing pains he felt in his back.

"Me either, squirt!" Natsu said just as energetically. "Then I can see what your room looks like!"

"Yeah!" August nodded enthusiastically. "And meet my friends and see my new toys! We even got a basketball hoop now!"

"Sounds like a blast bud. Can't wait" Natsu said with a smile.

"We can't either Natsu" Mavis said happily. "We'll show you all Crocus has to offer! Maybe you'll move out to stay with us when your contract's up."

"HAHA maybe, but I doubt it" Natsu laughed. He smiled even bigger when he saw August pout. "I can't imagine leaving Magnolia like you guys did."

"Yeah, it is great here" Mavis said with a smile. "But who knows, maybe you'll like Crocus too! Or meet a girl! And then move there to be with her and get married!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Natsu laughed out, seeing how excited his sister in law got. Even Wendy seemed happy about the prospect. "I'm not going there looking for love!"

"Right" Igneel chimed in. "He's already got Lucy."

"No, no. He'll be with Lisanna soon enough" Zeref said with a grin.

"I don't know, Cana _did_ kiss him before he left" Wendy giggled, knowing they were frustrating Natsu.

"Ugh. Can you all not?" Natsu whined.

"It's too bad Mira and Laxus tied the knot. She was the frontrunner before she left for college" Grandine spoke right over him as she put down the pancakes and bacon on the table.

"True. They always spent time together and Natsu raved about her cooking. Too bad he decided to date Jenny instead. Mira was _so_ mad at him for that" Wendy said while nodding.

"Guess this is happening anyway" Natsu mumbled as he filled his plate and let August go to his seat so he could finish eating.

"Well now that you're home, you can get a girlfriend!" Mavis cried out happily.

"I don't _need_ a girlfriend! I'm fine with being single!" Natsu defended.

"Oh, we know honey, but having a girlfriend wouldn't be so bad, would it?" Grandine asked.

Natsu sighed at this. "I guess not. But I'm not going to focus on that just because I'm now home. I've got other things to think about too."

"Of course, boy" Igneel said seriously. "But, first and foremost, you have to heal."

"Do you want me to look into a therapist at the hospital for you Natsu?" Grandine asked seriously.

"Wha?" Natsu asked with his mouth stuffed full of pancakes.

"A therapist. You obviously have some trauma since we can hear you wake up yelling some nights" Grandine said as she grabbed his hand reassuringly.

"I…" Natsu swallowed thickly, weirded out that what he was thinking of earlier was being brought up. "I was thinking about that earlier actually. Yeah, I think that'd work for me mom, thanks."

The family beamed at that. They had thought Natsu would put up more of a fight in the topic, and were glad he was open to getting help. They didn't want to see him destroy himself with alcohol again.

"Just let me know when you'd like to start. The hospital has 3 affiliates that I know very well and think you would like" Grandine said, still smiling.

"I...uh….I will mom" Natsu said through a pancake.

"So can we go through more of my journals today?" Wendy asked as she looked at Natsu.

"Sorry Wends, but if they're leaving today Zeref, Mavis, and August get to choose what we do. We'll go through them tomorrow" Natsu said as he ruffled her hair.

"Alright, alright" Wendy said as she swatted at Natsu's hands.

"We were thinking of watching some of the baby movies you have around the house" Mavis said excitedly. "I want to show August how cute you all were!"

"Mavis" Zeref said with a smile as he shook his head. "Maybe we should do something else?"

"No, no. I told August we'd watch them, so we're gonna watch them" Mavis said with a bright smile.

"Alright" Igneel said. "After breakfast I'll go get them and you guys can set everything up in the living room."

"Sure" Natsu said and everyone looked at him like he was crazy. "What?"

"You may have been cleared to walk around under your own power but you still have to take it easy" Zeref said.

"I can handle helping you get the VHS player setup" Natsu said as he rolled his eyes.

"Alright" Mavis nodded. "Maybe you can help set up the movie snacks too!"

"Sure" Natsu said with a smile. He was happy that someone understood his need to do _something_ other than just sit around all day.

"I'll bake some cookies too" Grandine said, smiling at how happy Natsu was now that he could do something.

"Oh! I'll help! Wendy said happily. She loved baking with her mom.

"Sure sweetheart" Grandine said with a smile directed at her daughter.

"August you can help daddy and Uncle Natsu" Mavis said and August nodded happily as he drank his orange juice.

The rest of the time went by fairly quickly as Natsu inhaled more food than the other Dragneels except for Igneel. They talked about what they were going to do in the upcoming months and what they thought about how the town was decorated. Natsu basked in the normalcy of everything. He missed his family sitting around the table talking about nothing important.

Just as everyone cleared the table, Natsu's phone rang. He looked at it and didn't recognize the number so he just shoved his phone back into his pocket and went to go help Zeref.

"Could you grab the wires from the closet?" Zeref asked as he walked in with the old VHS player.

"Yeah" Natsu said and he noticed August was following him.

"Here buddy" Natsu said as he held out the power cord for the VHS player. "You bring this to your dad."

"Okay!" August beamed before he walked back towards his dad who thanked him and then plugged the cord in.

"Here" Natsu said as he held out the video/audio cord. "I'm gonna go see if the girls need help. Comin squirt?"

"Yeah!" August cheered as the two made their way back into the kitchen.

Mavis saw them first and waved them over to get the bowl of popcorn and the bowl of tortilla chips. Natsu grabbed one and let August grab the other. Mavis followed them with a small bowl of salsa mixed with melted cheese and a jug of lemonade. They set their things down on the coffee table and decided to sit down to wait for everyone else to come in. Igneel, Wendy, and Grandine came into the living room in no time and they popped in the first movie: Zeref's first 5 years.

The clips that made up the movie were cute. Zeref playing with a toy that hung down when he was a few months old, Zeref crawling for the first time, and Zeref gnawing on a t bone made up the first few minutes. The next few were of Zeref learning to walk, other people holding him, his first Christmas, and his first birthday party. August laughed very hard when he watched his dad destroy the cake his grandparents had bought so they could let Zeref have one. Then after his birthday was the family's first vacation together, his second holiday season, and then his second birthday. After the birthday was a scene of Zeref in the hospital being held by Igneel and the camera panned over to get a good look at Grandine holding a baby with a little bit of pink hair. The rest of the movie was of Zeref and Natsu playing together, Zeref doting on Natsu, and Natsu crawling after Zeref.

When the video finished Mavis had stars in her eyes. "I always knew you were cute, but you've been cute forever!" She said as she wrapped her arms around Zeref.

"I wouldn't say that" Zeref said with a smile. "August is still the cutest baby I've ever seen."

"True" Mavis nodded as she wrapped one arm around August and he climbed into her lap.

"Next is Natsu's" Igneel said as he rewound the VHS. Once finished, he put Natsu's video in.

The video was similar to Zeref's. The only major difference was that Natsu would try to follow Zeref everywhere. When he couldn't crawl or walk, he followed Zeref's movements with his head. Once he learned how to walk he became Zeref's shadow. Always asking him to play with him or show him something cool. Natsu went on a bit longer than Zeref's since it covered more of his life. It showed up to the year Natsu started going to school. It also showed Zeref and Natsu in the hospital sitting on Igneel's lap in the hospital. The screen pans over and shows a baby wrapped in pink with almost a full head of blue hair.

"You were a handful, Natsu" Mavis teased. Natsu pouted and started grumbling.

"Not my fault Zeref only ever wanted to read his books or stay inside. I just wanted to burn energy" Natsu said.

"We know dear, but you were still a handful" Grandine giggled.

"Now for the cutest daughter in the world's video!" Igneel said as he rewound Natsu taps and put Wendy's in.

"Dad" Wendy whined. "You're embarrassing me!"

"Just wait until he wants to show your future boyfriend" Natsu said with a grin. Wendy looked horrified at this and snapped her head towards Igneel.

"He's joking, right daddy?" Wendy asked hopefully.

"Well~...maybe" Igneel said with a grin. "It depends on how bored I am really."

"Yeah. That's why he showed Lucy _and_ Lisanna the same day. Because he was off from work and bored. I didn't hear the end of that for months. They still bring it up" Natsu groaned.

"Now it seems I'll have to show Cana too" Igneel smirked.

"Just watch the movie" Natsu said as he threw a pillow at his dad.

Wendy's video was also similar. Special events were taped, as well as her first tball game, and all of the time she spent with her brothers. They saw that from an early age the youngest Dragneel loved playing with Natsu. They were together in almost every scene once Wendy learned how to walk and talk. Wendy smiles fondly at the screen. She had very good childhood memories because of her brothers. Natsu especially. Then the movie showed Natsu playing with Wendy and Romeo, who they were babysitting for Macao because he worked the night shift then. The three looked like they were having a blast whenever they were the focus. Zeref would join too, but not often as he was interested in learning new things so he was almost always reading something.

When it finished the whole Dragneel family had fond smiles on their faces. All five of them remembered the good times they had, and it made them smile.

"We should watch those more often" Grandine said.

"Yeah, we could do a family movie night or something" Wendy said.

"We'll rewatch next time we visit" Zeref said as he got up. "But we're going to have to head to the airport soon."

"Aw~" August whined. "I wanted to play more!"

"You can play more when we get home" Mavis said with a smile.

"Not with Uncle Natsu" August grumbled.

"We're gonna schedule a visit soon August" Zeref said with a small smile.

"Okay" August sulked.

"I'll even bring Wendy with me so we can have a party. How's that August?" Natsu asked with a grin.

"Really?" August asked happily.

"Really really" Natsu said and Wendy nodded when he looked her way.

"Awesome!" August cheered.

"Now, let's have lunch then we'll take you to the airport, okay?" Grandine said as they all got up and cleared the snack bowls from the table.

"Sounds good mom" Mavis said, which made Grandine smile brighter and grab the unsuspecting girl.

"I always love it when you call me 'mom'" Grandine squealed and she held the small woman close. Everyone sweatdropped at this.

"Right" Igneel said. "So how does grilled cheese and French fries sound?"

"Good" Zeref said.

"Great!" August cheered since it was one of his favorites. Everyone laughed and made their way to the kitchen table.

"I think I'm gonna head home soon too" Natsu said after everyone was served their food.

"What?" Wendy panicked.

"I'm sure the place could use a cleaning, plus it isn't crazy far away" Natsu said.

"I don't think that's the best idea so soon" Grandine said. "You might irritate your injuries."

"Right. I told you that you need time. So you should stay here and heal up" Igneel added.

"Yeah Natsu! Plus you promised we'd go over more journals tomorrow!" Wendy said quickly.

"Also, how do we know you'll actually take it easy if you're back in your apartment? You have your weights and such there" Igneel said worriedly.

"It would be a good idea to stay here so mom can drive you with her to the hospital for your appointments" Zeref threw in.

Natsu sighed heavily. He had hoped they wouldn't fight him so much. Looks like they really didn't want him to leave their sights anytime soon. He knew they weren't going to give in. Natsu has no choice but to stay.

"Yeah, sure. I'll stay" Natsu gave in. "At least until I'm cleared by my doctor."

The family smiled brightly at this. Natsu sighed internally. He knew they were doing it because they cared about him and his safety, but he wished they would let him have a little more freedom. ' _I guess them letting me walk around by myself is a start. Baby steps it looks like.'_ Natsu thought to himself.

"Great!" Wendy cheered. "My friend from school is coming to visit this week so now I can introduce you!"

"Oh? What friend?" Natsu asked.

"I totally forgot about that!" Grandine said excitedly. "We need to prepare the house for our new guest!"

"Right" Igneel nodded. "I'll get the extra bedroom set up."

"You mean my old room?" Zeref asked with a smile.

"Well more or less" Igneel said sheepishly.

"It's fine, I'm just teasing" Zeref said with a chuckle.

"What friend?" Natsu tried again.

"Oh!" Wendy said, finally registering Natsu asked a question. "My friend Chelia Blendy! She's my roommate at school!"

"Oh. Cool" Natsu said, then he popped the rest of his sandwich into his mouth.

"Maybe Wendy is gonna be a matchmaker and hook Natsu up with her friend!" Mavis said with stars in her eyes.

"Why do you want me to get a girlfriend so badly?" Natsu cried.

"That would be weird!" Wendy cried at the same time.

"Why would that be weird?" Mavis asked.

"It just would be! Plus she's five years younger than he is like I am!" Wendy said.

"So? A lot of the couples we know have age differences" Grandine said. "Yes your father and I are the same age as are Zeref and Mavis, but that much of an age difference isn't that weird Wendy."

"Still weird" Wendy pouted as she crossed her arms.

"Don't worry Wendy. I have no ideas of falling for your friend" Natsu said as he patted her head.

"Oh look at the time!" Mavis said suddenly. "We need to get ready to leave!"

"Good call Mavis" Igneel said. "You should always get there two hours early for your flight so we'll need to leave in 30 minutes."

"Let's go get the rest of our stuff together so we can head out" Zeref said as the small family got up and went to get themselves together.

It was then Natsu felt his phone vibrate again. He looked and noticed the number from before had called him a few times and left two voicemails. Natsu decided he'd listen to the voicemails.

" _Hey Natsu, it's Will McBride. I got your number from someone named….Mira I think she said? Anyway. We're in town for the week visiting with my wife's family and we were hoping to see you. Call me back when you get this, thanks."_

Natsu was frozen. While he expected to hear from Will at some point, he didn't expect it to be so soon. He then got excited. He'd get to see Will again! It finally registered that they both made it out of there. Natsu couldn't wait to see Will and meet his wife and daughter. Then he remembered Will left him another message so he pressed on the second one.

" _Hi Natsu err… Mr. Dragneel. This is Emily, Will's wife. He doesn't know I called again but I hope you make some time for us. He's been wanting to talk to you since your family pulled you away on stage. Anyway please call him. If you don't have time this week I'm sure just talking to you would make his day. He was worried you didn't make it and wanted to make sure- oh, he's coming back. Please call him Natsu."_

Natsu smiles. Of course he was going to call! As soon as he got home from seeing his brother's family off.

"Everybody ready?" Igneel called from the front door after 20 minutes had passed.

"Aye sir!" They cheered and made their way to Igneel's SUV.

The Dragneels made their way to the airport and dropped the family of three off at the entrance, said their goodbyes, gave their hugs and kisses, and wished each other well.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Parting Glass! Next chapter we'll see a little bit of Will again! Please review what you liked so far about the story and or what you might like to see in the future! I already have a few more faces showing up in the next couple of chapters. We finally see some more Fairy Tail characters.**

 **PS. I'm rewatching the final season and anyone else catch that Levy and Gajeel are sleeping together before the war breaks out? They don't show the two together, but they have the same blanket. Finally a romance in the show am I right?**

 **See yah next chapter!**


	8. The Meeting

**Acochran5- Thanks for the review! I'm sure they were too, and I thank you for your continued support on this story! I hit a bit of writer's block with it, but I think I'm hitting a good stride now.**

 **Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and its characters, but the plot is mine.**

* * *

Natsu was excited. He was going to see Will again! And not in a life or death situation!

After the Dragneels returned home from the airport, Natsu called Will immediately. After a brief conversation, Natsu told Will to meet him at Fairy Tail a few days later.

Today's the day and Natsu was excited. He hoped that Will had been joking about helping his family beat him up, but Will's family was going to be there so he wouldn't get too out of hand.

Natsu got up, dressed, and went downstairs. His family could tell that Natsu was feeling much better than he had recently.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Grandine asked.

"I'm meeting up with Will today" Natsu said as he sat down at the kitchen table. He poured himself a bowl of cereal and started eating.

"That boy you were partnered with?" Igneel asked.

"That's the one" Natsu said. "He and his family are in town for another day or two and he asked to meet up. I'm gonna show him around Magnolia."

"Honey….I-I know you're looking forward to this, but….are you sure you're okay to walk around town?" Grandine asked hesitantly.

"Yeah" Natsu replied. "Plus we aren't just going to be walking. Will is recovering from bullet wounds in his leg still so we'll be driving around some."

"Oh….okay then" Grandine replied. "Just….please don't push yourself too hard. You're still recovering."

"I promise I won't mom" Natsu said with a smile. Grandine smiled brightly back, knowing Natsu never breaks his promises.

"I'll hold you to that" Grandine said with a smile.

"So what're you gonna show them?" Igneel asked.

"Just the spots I like or that are popular. Maybe stop by the bookstore or something" Natsu said with a smile.

"That's a good idea. They'd really get the feel for Magnolia then" Igneel nodded. "Takin them to Fairy Tail?"

"We're meeting there actually" Natsu said with a smile. "But not until 12:30 or so."

"Good. Wendy's friend should be here before then so you'll get to meet her" Grandine said. "She's wanted you to meet her friends for awhile now."

"Good morning" Wendy said as she sat down next to Natsu. Natsu grinned at her.

"Mornin Wendy. I hear you wanna show me off to your friends huh?" Natsu teased.

"What? N-no! Not sh-show off! Just meet!" Wendy stammered out.

"Haha relax Wendy, I'm just kiddin" Natsu laughed. "I wanna meet your friends too. I've read about the stuff y'all did together so I'd like to put some faces to the names."

"Yeah" Wendy beamed. "They said the same thing. Actually my other friend, Beth, is in town too. Maybe we can meet her at Fairy Tail this weekend?"

"Hmm. I do have an appointment on Saturday, but if it's in the afternoon I don't see why not" Natsu said with a grin. Grandine and Igneel just watched on fondly, knowing how much Wendy's treasured these moments with Natsu since he's come home.

"You guys'll come too right?" Wendy asked as she looked at her parents.

"Of course" Igneel grinned.

"We would love to see Beth again" Grandine said with a smile.

"You've met her before?" Natsu asked. "Oh. Wait. She was one of your roommates last year wasn't she?"

"Yeup! It was the three of us. Beth's rooming with her friend Araña this year though" Wendy said. "But they're right next door and we have more room so it's great!"

Natsu smiled at how excited his sister was. He then turned to his parents. "Have you heard from Zeref and Mavis? How was getting back into the work groove?"

"They're fine" Igneel said. "They said they're tired since they're getting up early again, but they're dealing."

"Little August is back in school on Monday and he's really excited" Grandine said with a smile.

"Hope he has fun" Natsu said. Wendy giggled at that.

"Fun at school? Who are you and what did you do with my brother?" Wendy said.

"Hehehe….he likes school so it's fun for him" Natsu said with a chuckle. "Plus he's still young. It's more hanging out with friends than real work."

"Natsu he's in second grade" Wendy said. "He's starting to do real work."

"Oh….right. Forgot about that" Natsu said sadly. He missed out on a lot and he was still trying to catch up.

"I-it's okay Natsu!" Wendy said hastily. She realized too late that saying that would bring his mood down. "You'll remember from now on!"

"Yeah" Natsu said absentmindedly. Just as Wendy was going to say something else there was a knock at the door.

"That must be Sherria! I'll get it!" Wendy exclaimed happily as she got up and raced to the door. She opened the door and there stood Sherria. Sherria was a little taller than Wendy, a bit paler, and her hair was a pale pink that barely reached passed her shoulders.

"Sherria!" Wendy cried out.

"Wendy!" Sherria responded in kind. The two then grabbed onto each other in a tight hug. "It's so good to see you! Your house is so pretty!"

"Thanks! It's great to see you too!" Wendy replied happily.

"I heard your brother came home! You must be happy!" Sherria said excitedly. Wendy had been a wreck the first few weeks of the semester after Natsu went missing.

"Yeah! He's in the kitchen. Come say hi!" Wendy said happily as she pulled her friend towards the rest of her family.

"Hello Sherria" Grandine said with a smile. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's nice to see you guys too!" Sherria replied with a small bow before she was pulled into a hug by Grandine.

"We've met a few times" Grandine said to the girl. "We can hug, it's okay."

Sherria beamed and turned to hug Igneel too. "Thank you for letting me visit!"

"It's our pleasure" Igneel said as they broke apart. "Any friend of Wendy's is welcome here."

"Hi Sherria" Natsu said as he stuck his hand out. "I'm Natsu. I've heard alot about you and it's good to finally put a face to the name."

Sherria blushed a bit as she took Natsu's hand in hers. "I've heard a lot about you too! Wendy always talks about her cool older brother."

"Oh really?" Natsu asked as he raised an eyebrow at Wendy. The poor girl turning red out of embarrassment.

"Yeah! She tells us all of these stories about you and what the two of you would do when you'd hang out and stuff!" Sherria said, unaware that Wendy was getting redder as she kept talking. "She even told us about all of the times you'd comfort her when she was upset!"

"HAHA well now I'm even more glad that you came Sherria" Natsu laughed. "You'll have to tell me more in detail when you're settled in."

"No she won't!" Wendy said quickly as she grabbed Sherria and headed for the stairs. "We'll be down in a bit!"

"Take your time Wendy! We got the room ready yesterday so she should be able to move right in" Igneel called up the stairs.

"Thank you" Sherria called down the stairs before they heard a door close.

"I guess we should go get the rest of her bags. Wendy was too flustered to remember them I'm sure" Grandine sighed before looking at Natsu with a small smile. "Must you always tease her?"

"It's not my fault" Natsu defended. "Sherria set me up perfectly."

"That she did" Igneel chuckled. "Let's go boy, I'm sure she has more than two bags."

"Alright" Natsu said as he got up, put his bowl in the sink and followed Igneel to the front door. Natsu was secretly ecstatic that Igneel was making him help. It showed that they were letting him do more and more.

Turned out, Igneel was right and there were two suitcases and a duffle bag. Natsu raised his eyebrows at the amount she packed, but Igneel explained that Sherria was staying with them until the two girls went back to school, since that was two weeks away.

Igneel grabbed the two suitcases and Natsu grabbed the duffle. He grumbled about only carrying the one bag, but he knew he should just be happy to be carrying anything at all. The two made their way to the room Sherria would be staying in and Natsu stepped in front of Igneel with a devious smile on his face.

He knocked on the door and said, "Hey Sherria, I'm here to hear _all_ about what Wendy would tell you at school." he heard an "eek!" in response and burst out laughing. Igneel started laughing too and the door was opened by a flustered Wendy.

"That's not funny Natsu!" Wendy said with a pout.

"Aw, c'mon Wends, it was a little funny" Natsu said with a grin. Wendy just playfully huffed in response.

"Whatever" Wendy said as she finally smiled, happy that Natsu wasn't in a funk anymore. "Please bring those in so Sherria can unpack."

"You got it" Igneel said as he pushed passed Natsu who was still grinning like a maniac and brought the suitcases inside. "Lunch will be around noon, unless you two head out. Grandine is working tonight so we're on our own for dinner."

"Okay" both girls replied.

"Here's the last bag" Natsu said as he put it on the bed before turning towards Wendy. "I'm leavin just before noon so if you can remember anythin before then, just pop by and let me know."

"Out!" Wendy cried as she gently pushed Natsu out the door and closed it behind him. The two listening to Sherria giggle at them the whole time. Natsu laughed and made his way to his room.

He wanted to check out his rehab schedule for the next week. He'd been to a few sessions already, and was happy that Elfman was his physical therapist. It was a bit of a sad moment though, as that was when he found out that Elfman and Evergreen were now engaged. That had been his welcome home, many of his friends were now engaged and the news hit him hard. He felt like he missed out on so much.

Before he could dwell any longer on that thought, Natsu rushed to his laptop and booted it up. He quickly went to his email and saw he had a few unopened. Natsu spent the next hour replying to emails about his reassignment, updating the military on his rehabilitation, and finally checking his rehab schedule. He saw that he had the next day off, which was Sunday, but he had an appointment every day the rest of the week. This made Natsu groan out loud. He was more than happy to do the p.t., but he hated how weak it made him feel when he left.

Natsu tried to focus on the positives, like how he was getting better with each session, but he couldn't help but compare where he was now to where he had been before he left. Before he left, he was in the gym almost every day and putting up weight that made guys bigger than him gawk. Now, he couldn't lift half of what he used to, and it bothered him. Not because he couldn't get the same responses to the weight he was lifting, but because it just cemented the fact that he was still hurt and weakened. It also made him think about how he did it to himself, really.

Natsu shot out of his chair and went downstairs to the kitchen. Maybe being alone with his thoughts wasn't something he could handle right now. His first therapy session was after his p.t. on Wednesday. Grandine set him up with the woman that was supposedly the best in the hospital, a woman named Taylor.

Natsu got downstairs and saw Igneel had a game on the tv, so he sat down and watched with him. He was happy to sit there and mindlessly watch two teams play basketball while petting Happy. It kept him from thinking too hard about his situation. Grandine even brought in some snacks for the two to indulge in. When the game ended, Natsu looked at the clock and decided he should head out.

"Yo dad" Natsu said and Igneel hummed in response. "Can you take me to Fairy Tail? I'd walk but I think mom would have a heart attack."

"I heard that!" came the response from the dining room.

"Sure" Igneel said after he laughed. "Let me get the keys…. and make sure you wear a coat Mr. 'I never get cold.'"

Natsu chuckled sheepishly. He never really did get cold, so he would rarely wear jackets. It ended up with Wendy wanting to imitate him, and nearly catching the flu. Natsu always wore jackets after that.

"Right, right" Natsu said. The two headed to the car and drove the few miles to Fairy Tail.

"Just call if you need a ride" Igneel said as Natsu climbed out of his car.

"Will do, but I think they'll give me a ride home" Natsu said before he closed the door. "I wonder if they're here yet."

Natsu went inside and looked around. He noticed Will wasn't here yet, which he was happy about. He wanted to catch up with anyone that he knew here. Natsu walked up to the bar and noticed Kinana still hadn't noticed him.

"Hey Kinana" Natsu said with a grin.

"Natsu!" Kinana said happily as she turned around and saw who called her. She made her way around the bar and gave her friend a hug. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's great to see you too! I'm glad I'm not cooped up in the house anymore" Natsu said with a grin.

"I bet!" Kinana said. "Hold on, let me go get Mira. She's on cook duty today."

"Awesome!" Natsu said as he sat down on a stool. Kinana went behind the bar and disappeared behind the door leading to the kitchen. He heard a happy yell and Mira and Makarov came barreling out of the back.

"Where is he?" Mira asked loudly before she spotted him. "Natsu! You're here! Are you sure you should be out and about? Are you okay? Do you want something to drink?"

"Calm down Mira!" Natsu laughed as he gave her a hug. "Yes I'm sure, yes I'm okay, and yes, I'd like a lemonade."

Mira nodded happily as she saw Kinana go to get him his drink. Makarov then jumped up onto the bar in front of Natsu, grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him into a hug. Natsu laughed and hugged the old man back.

"I'm so happy you're back safe my boy" Makarov said. "We all thought about you everyday."

"I'm happy to be back too Gramps" Natsu said as his features softened. "I thought and dreamt about you guys all of the time too. Couldn't escape yah if I tried."

Makarov and Mira chuckled at that. "How's being home, boy?"

"It's great! Except the whole over protective family and friends thing" Natsu teased as he winked at Mira. Mira puffed her cheeks out at this.

"Well _so-rry_ we all missed you" Mira huffed.

"Oh c'mon Mira, I was joking!" Natsu plead as he wrapped her in a hug again. Mira giggled at this.

"Still too easy Natsu" Mira said and Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks Kinana" Natsu said with a smile at Kinana who set his lemonade down. Kinana smiled brightly back, happy he wasn't asking for alcohol this time.

"So what brings you to Fairy Tail Natsu?" Kinana asked.

"I'm meeting up with a guy and his family from my unit" Natsu said with a smile before turning to Mira. "I heard he was given my number just before we began walking home after my speech."

"Heheh….Yeah, well he really wanted to get in contact with you" Mira said as she laughed sheepishly.

"Thanks Mira" Natsu said softly. Mira beamed at him and wrapped him up in a hug from behind.

"You're welcome Natsu" Mira said.

"Meet-up time is in a few minutes, so he should be walking in….now" Natsu said as he looked at the door. The rest of the group followed his gaze and sure enough, Will and his family walked through the door.

"Follow me" Mira said. "I'll get you a table."

"Thanks MIra" Natsu said as he got up with his glass. "Will! Over here!"

Will, who Natsu presumed was Emily, and his daughter all began walking towards Natsu, who just reached a table. The daughter was the spitting image of Emily. The two had long brown hair, bright brown eyes, and fair complections. When they reached the table, Will grinned and hugged Natsu tightly while Natsu mirrored him. It was a little uncomfortable for Natsu because of his injuries, but he didn't care. He got to hang out with his battle-buddy again! And he looked great for a guy that had been hit a few times.

"It's great to see you again, Natsu" Will said as they both held on. Natsu's smile got just a bit bigger at this.

"Same Will. I'm so glad you got outta there when you did" Natsu said as they finally let go. Natsu was immediately grabbed by Emily and hugged just as tightly, if not more so, as he was by Will.

"Thank you so much!" Emily sobbed into Natsu's chest. Natsu smiled softly, as did Will and Mira, who was still standing there and tearing up. Natsu wrapped his arms around the woman and held her close.

"There's nothin to thank me for" Natsu said softly. "It was all you two that got him to pull through."

Emily gave a watery scoff. "He told me you were like this. You saved my husband's life twice. We'll be forever in your debt. Now he gets to walk my daughter into her first year of school. We get to see him and hug him and talk to him and it's all thanks to you! I'm just….we're all so grateful to you Natsu!"

"He would have done the same thing for me, so don't worry about it. You definitely don't owe me anythin. Plus, I'm happy to meet the women he wouldn't stop talking about while we were deployed" Natsu said. Everyone laughed a bit at this. The women were still slightly crying, but everyone was happy.

Emily turned to her daughter. "Mary, this is your Uncle Natsu." Natsu was shocked. He didn't even consider this happening.

"Uncle?" Mary asked as she tilted her head. Emily nodded happily.

"Yes, sweetie. Uncle Natsu. Why don't you give your Uncle Natsu a big hug?" Emily asked. Mary nodded and ran at Natsu, who knelt down to receive the little girl. The two hugged and Mary nestled into Natsu's shoulder. Natsu stood up and put Mary down in a chair.

"Let's eat!" He said cheerfully.

The three adults then sat down in chairs and picked up their menus. Natsu did it more for show. He knew Mira would bring him whatever she felt he would like best at the moment. The slightly creepy thing was she was almost always right.

"Everything's good here, so just pick whatever you want" Natsu said with a grin. "I've known the cook for years and she's gotta be the best I've ever met."

"I want chicken tenders" Mary said. Natsu grinned in response. That's what August got the first time he was at Fairy Tail too.

"Great choice Mary!" Natsu said. Mary beamed at him in response.

"I'm just gonna go with a burger and a water" Will said as he put down his menu.

"I'm going to get the buffalo chicken wrap and a cola" Emily said.

Mira then appeared at the table and said," are you ready to order?" the group said yes and gave their order. Natsu just said his usual, which made Mira smile since she knew he was asking her to pick for him. She went to get their order started and sent Kinana to the table with their drinks.

"Been here a lot huh?" Will asked with a grin. Natsu shrugged.

"Not recently, but I've been comin here since I was 7 with my family" Natsu said with a fond smile. "The place hasn't changed much since then."

"It's nice that the place has stayed the same that long. Not many places in Hargeon are the same as they were when we were little" Emily said.

"Yeah, I think Fairy Tail and the Cathedral are the only two that have really stayed the same" Natsu said. "Everythin else kinda changed as the older generation retired. I'll point some changes out when we're walking around."

"I can't wait to walk around the town" Emily said and Will nodded in agreement. "Will can finally walk under his own power for awhile, so we haven't been able to walk around much before."

"Plus, now we have a tour guide" Will said with a grin. Natsu grinned right back.

"Oh yeah! You guys are gonna see the best Magnolia has to offer. I'll show you all of the good spots, the newer places, and the places I think y'all would like. I'll introduce you to my friends around town too" Natsu said with a smile. The two smiled back.

"That would be lovely" Emily said. Natsu then pulled out a pen and drew a tic-tac-to symbol on Mary's placemat.

"You know how to play Mary?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah!" Mary said happily. She then took the pen from Natsu and made her first move.

"Watch out, she's really good" Will said with a smile.

"I'm not too bad if I do say so myself" Natsu added with a wink. The other two adults laughed and watched as Natsu let Mary win three times in a row before their food came out. "I know you got my number from her, but this is Mirajane. She's one of my oldest friends. Mira this is Will, his wife Emily, and their daughter Mary" Natsu said with a smile directed at Mira, which she responded to in kind.

"It's a pleasure to meet you" Mira said.

"It's nice to formally meet you" Will said, and the others smiled at that.

"Yes, everything was crazy after Natsu showed up out of the blue" Mira said with a slight frown. "He didn't reach out to let us know he was alive before that and, well, you saw the result."

"Yeah, I wasn't too thrilled about that either" Will said, frowning as well. He turned to Natsu, "speaking of which, I thought your sister wasn't going to let you out of her sight?"

Natsu laughed in response. "Today's the first time since I've been home. I lucked out and one of her college friends came to visit for a few weeks."

"Is she cute?" Mira asked with a glint in her eye.

Natsu groaned. "Not you too!"

"Okay, okay I'll stop" Mira said with a smile. "I gotta get back to work, enjoy your food."

"Thanks" everyone replied. They began eating before what just was said registered with Emily.

"Natsu, are you single?" Emily asked. Will smiled to himself, but couldn't hide it from Natsu who's eyes flickered over to his friend. Will hadn't told his wife about what they said overseas, but it seemed it was going to be brought up anyway.

"At the moment I am, yeah" Natsu said as he put his super spicy chicken sandwich down.

"Oh! I have some friends that would _love_ to meet you!" Emily said happily. She thought that this would be her way of paying Natsu back.

"Heheh. I'm just focusing on healing for right now" Natsu said as he chuckled awkwardly while scratching the back of his neck.

"I understand" Emily said. "But I hope you come visit us soon. It would be fair for us to show you around our town after you show us around yours."

"Yeah, getting out of Magnolia might do me some good. It would have to wait a couple of weeks though" Natsu said. "My physical therapist says he thinks I'll be good as new in a few more weeks."

"Oh, that's good news!" Emily said happily. Will nodded in agreement.

"It's not as long of a recovery as I thought it would be" Will said.

"HAHA I told yah before I heal faster than most" Natsu said with a laugh. Will smiled at that.

"How could I forget? You healed almost as fast as I did in Alvarez, and your wounds were worse" Will said.

"Sorry to ask, but is that where the….the facial scar came from?" Emily asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, piece of shrapnel sliced me bad. Same with my neck. But it's fine. Scars just show what you've been through in your past to get you to where you are today. Or at least that's what I believe" Natsu said. Then he popped the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. Both McBrides smiled at that.

"That's a very positive way of thinking Natsu" Emily said.

"Hehe, I guess it is" Natsu said, embarrassed. "Plus they don't look terrible. Well, the one on my neck doesn't. I've caught a few people looking at my face when I walk around the yard or hospital."

"Nah they make yah look rugged" Will said with a grin. "Real man's man."

"Oh god, you sound like Mira's brother" Natsu said with a playful groan. "He's always going on and on about what real men are like."

Emily and Will laughed at that. Mary had finished her food and was drawing on the placemat with the pen she still had.

"Your friends seem very colorful" Emily said.

"Yeah, they're something else" Natsu said with a fond smile.

"I can't wait to meet them!" Will said. "You talked about them when we were deployed a bunch, so it'll be nice to meet them."

"HAHA I said the same thing today about my sister's friend" Natsu said with a laugh. "And I can say the same about your friends."

"Yeah, when you come visit you'll meet them" Will said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh! If you guys want to come back here for dinner I can send out a message to my friends and have them all meet us here tonight!" Natsu said excitedly.

"I already sent the message out, Natsu" Kinana said as she appeared and began clearing the table. "I figured you were going to come back here for dinner after your tour."

"It depends on the time we get back here, but I don't see a problem with it" Will said happily. Emily nodded in agreement.

"We do have to be aware of Mary's bedtime, but I think it'll be fun!" Emily said.

"Thanks a lot Kinana" Natsu said with a smile. "Put the food on my tab, we've got places to go and people to see!"

"Natsu we can't-" Emily and Will started.

"Mr. Makarov already said all of it was on the house" Kinana said right over them. "He's happy you both made it home safe, and said to think of it as his get well soon present."

Natsu and the McBrides smiled at this.

"Tell Gramps thanks for me, okay?" Natsu asked to which Kinana nodded before she walked away. Natsu turned to his friends, "Well, let's go! We've got a whole town to see!"

The group got up, Emily picking Mary up, and made their way to the door as Natsu and Will chattered back and forth about what the McBrides' would like to see.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry to those that were hoping for a faster upload, but I'm trying to be better about my writing times. We got to see Will and meet his family!**

 **See yah next chapter!**


	9. Back to School

**Acochran5- Thanks for continuing to review! It means a lot! And sorry I've been a little busy so I haven't had too much time to work on my stories recently!**

 **Hiro Mashima Owns Fairy Tail and its Characters**

* * *

Natsu couldn't believe it. He had no idea how two weeks flew by so quickly, but they did. Natsu got to meet all of his sister's friends that were in the area, and they made a point to come over the house almost every day. Grandine and Igneel had a feeling that it was because Natsu was there, as the girls would blush whenever he focused on them solely or laugh at any joke he made. Even if they were terrible, which a good amount were.

Natsu argued that it was because Grandine's cooking skills were unmatched and they also didn't want to spend too much money before they went to school. Plus they stayed at Beth's Aunt's almost as often.

Besides the teasing about his sister's friends -whenever Wendy wasn't around- the two weeks were very good for Natsu. His physical therapy was going very well. Elfman told him that it wouldn't be long before he was cleared to do some bodyweight exercises on his own. That alone had made Natsu ecstatic, but couple that with the fact that his therapy sessions have helped him more than he thought possible and he was practically glowing.

Natsu's first session with the therapist was crazy awkward, at least in his opinion. He was never really good with opening up to someone, so opening up to a stranger was difficult. For the first half-hour, it was a struggle for Taylor to get more than a three to four word answer from him. The second was better, but he didn't really talk about what was bothering him until the second session, which was the next day. He told the woman all about his recent thoughts, and by the time the session was over Natsu was feeling much lighter. He was also feeling exhausted. Turns out opening up to someone could wear him out just as much as his workouts could.

Taylor had given him some exercises to do when he was alone to help keep his mind clear of negative thoughts, and two of them were surprisingly successful. Thus, by the time Wendy and Sherria were to head back to school, Natsu was almost feeling just as good as he had before he came home. Sure, he still woke up with a start most mornings and had bad days where his mind assaulted him with negative thoughts, but he felt that he was making great progress to get himself under control. Taylor seemed to think so too, and told him constantly that he was moving along faster than most of her other patients.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Grandine asked as the family finished packing the car.

"Yeah" Wendy replied. "I didn't bring everything home since the break was a shorter one."

"And you Sherria?" Grandine asked as she turned to the pinkette.

"Yes ma'am!" Sherria chirped. "Thank you for letting me use the washer and dryer last night!"

"Of course dear" Grandine said with a smile. "You're a guest and Wendy's good friend, of course we'd help you get ready any way we could."

"Where's Natsu?" Wendy asked. "He said he was coming with us to the campus."

"He'll be down in a second" Igneel said. "He was answering an email when I checked in on him."

"Okay" Wendy nodded while smiling brightly. "He missed the last couple of move-in days so I wanna make sure he's here for this one."

Everyone's features softened at that. They could tell that even though school was starting back up, she was still reluctant to be away from Natsu.

"He wouldn't miss it honey" Grandine said with a soft smile. Wendy nodded seriously.

"I know" Wendy said, but shot a glance to the house anyway.

"Don't leave without me!" Natsu called from inside the house. "I'm just putting my shoes on!"

"Hurry up slowpoke!" Igneel called. "We won't wait much longer!"

Grandine rounded on her husband. "He may be getting better, but we shouldn't push him! He could still rehurt himself!"

"Sorry hun. Force of habit" Igneel said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Seemed he and Natsu were _very_ similar in their mannerisms.

"I'm coming ya old fart!" Natsu called as he got to the door.

"I'm not that old!" Igneel said indignantly.

"Sure, sure" Natsu said. "Ready to go Wends? Sherria?"

"Yeah!" the two girls replied happily.

"You're riding with me, Natsu" Igneel said. "We get to shack up with all their stuff."

"Great" Natsu said with a grin.

"Girls, you're with me" Grandine said. She was hoping Igneel would be able to distract Natsu from his thoughts. Taylor had let slip that he had a tendency for falling into darker thoughts when left alone, and it worried Grandine greatly.

The ride to the university was uneventful. Igneel and Natsu talked about all manner of things. It started when Natsu told Igneel that he was going to start working again that Monday, and devolved into which cat was better behaved.

Natsu had forgotten what school Wendy had chosen to go to, and was only reminded when he saw the sign as they were pulling in. Lamia Scale was a very prestigious school, and was the pride of Margaret town. It was also where Grandine and Zeref went to school for their degrees. Natsu liked the look of the all stone buildings, and noticed that the campus was teeming with students.

"Wow, I forgot the campus was so big" Natsu breathed in awe.

"Yeah" Igneel chuckled. "Everyone that wants to be a healer of some kind comes here."

"Right, right" Natsu said. He vaguely recalled a good number of Wendy's friends wanted to be veterinarians, while Wendy and Sherria wanted to be doctors like Grandine. "How could I forget how popular the school of medicine here is."

"Don't know" Igneel said as he pulled into a parking spot. "It's on almost every doctor at the hospital's degree."

The two got out and walked to the trunk to get ready to help the girls inside. As they got there, the rest of their group pulled in next to them. What was surprising, though, was that Beth and Araña pulled in on the other side of the boys.

"Looks like the gang's all here" Natsu commented as everyone got out of their cars.

"Huh?" Wendy asked before looking passed Natsu. "Oh! Hi guys!"

"Hey Wendy, Sherria, Mr. and Mrs. Dragneel" the two girls responded happily.

"Hi ladies" Grandine said before sending a smirk towards Natsu. "What are the chances of seeing you here at this time."

"I know!" Beth said. "Araña picked me up on her way here so I guess we left around the same time."

"And who is this?" Araña asked. She hadn't been there to meet Natsu before.

"Natsu" Natsu said as he extended his hand towards Araña.

"Araña" the girl said with a smirk as she grabbed his hand. She then turned to Wendy. "This hottie is the big brother we've all heard so much about?"

"Not you too!" Wendy groaned. Natsu smirked.

"Guess I have to ask _all_ of your friends what you say about me when I'm not around" Natsu said, ignoring the smug looks his parents were sending him.

"No!" Wendy cried. "Just help us unpack!"

"Okay, okay" Natsu said, raising his hands up. "I won't tease yah anymore."

"Thank you" Wendy said as she beamed up at him. Everyone else chuckled at the siblings' interaction.

Everyone grabbed a bag or two and made their way up to the girls' rooms. Grandine helped the other two girls while Natsu and Igneel helped Wendy and Sherria carry their stuff in.

Natsu whistled at the size of the room. "Wow Wendy. The room's huge!"

Wendy had the decency to blush. "It _is_ a very prestigious school" Wendy responded.

"Didn't know that meant super wealthy" Natsu said, causing everyone else to chuckle at him.

"Their alumni send them a lot of money in donations" Igneel said as he put Wendy's bags down in front of her bed. The room had a large living room in it, with two full bathrooms attached to it and a small kitchenette. There was another door on the wall opposite the "front" door that Natsu guessed went to the bedroom.

"Hold on" Wendy said. "I think we cleaned the bedroom, but let's check before you guys go in there."

"Okay" the two guys said in response. The two girls went into their room first with a bag each and closed the door quickly when they noticed they had left some undergarments out on their desks. While the girls were cleaning the room quickly, there was a knock on the open door.

"Hello?" a voice said from the doorway. The two turn around and see a cute girl standing there.

"Oh, hello!" the girl said happily. "You must be Sherria and Wendy's family members."

"Uh, just Wendy's" Natsu said awkwardly.

"Oh! With your hair I was sure... Nevermind!" She chirped.

"Hello Millianna" Igneel said. "It's nice to see you again."

"You too Igneel!" Millianna said happily.

"Um. Hi. I'm Nasu, Wendy's brother" Natsu said awkwardly as he extended his hand. He wasn't expecting the girl to grab his hand so enthusiastically.

"OH! You're Natsu! I'm so happy to meet you! Little Wendy was so upset when you were gone, and now that you're back I'm sure we'll be able to see her bright smile more often!" Millianna said happily as she then pulled him into a tight hug. This made Natsu flush a slight pink since he wasn't used to women he didn't know hugging him. A flush that Igneel picked up on, as did the two girls that just emerged from their room. Wendy giggled at seeing Natsu so uncomfortable, while Sherria pouted. She didn't get that kind of reaction from Natsu.

"Y-yeah, hopefully" Natsu said as he awkwardly hugged the woman back.

"Hey Millianna" Wendy said to help her brother out.

"Oh Wendy! Sherria!" Millianna cheered happily as she dashed towards the two and wrapped them each in a tight hug.

"H-hey Millianna" Sherria breathed out when Millianna turned to Wendy.

"I'm doing my rounds and checking in with all of the residents to say hi!" Millianna said energetically. "Are Beth and Araña here yet?"

"Yeah they got here the same time we did" Wendy said.

"Perfect!" Millianna chirped. "I'll go say hi then! Tonight you'll _have_ to tell me _all_ about how your kitties were when you were home! Buh-bye!"

Then she was gone, but they could hear her greeting the girls next door in the same way she greeted Wendy and Sherria.

"She's...uh...something" Natsu said.

"Sorry, she's just really energetic" Wendy said sheepishly. "Probably shoulda warned you."

"Eh it's alright" Natsu said. "Just caught me off guard."

"You think you'd be used to pretty women throwing themselves at you" Igneel said with a smirk. This made both him and Wendy laugh while Natsu pouted.

"I can't go anywhere without getting teased" Natsu grumbled. "Maybe I should get a girlfriend just so you guys would all leave my love life alone."

Sherria and Wendy perked up at this, for different reasons. "Really Natsu?" Wendy asked.

"Well….probably not right away. But now that I can go back to work….I might start considerin it" Natsu said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Really?" Wendy, Sherria, and Grandine asked, and Natsu jumped.

"When'd you get here mom?" Natsu yelped.

"Just in time to hear that" Grandine said. "Did you mean it?"

"Uh...yeah, I guess" Natsu said before clearing his throat. "A-anyway. Can we bring your bags into your room now?"

"Oh, yeah!" Wendy said happily. "Come see Natsu! See how I decorated my side!"

"HAHA okay Wends" Natsu said as he grabbed the bags he was holding -one of each girls'- and headed to the bedroom.

"Wow Wendy, it looks great!" Natsu said as he looked over her side of the room. Tacked on the wall were photos of her and her friends, some art works she really liked, and photos of her with each of their family members. A lot of the family photos had him in them though, and he smiled softly at his sister. "It looks really good Wends."

Wendy beamed at him. "Thanks! You can throw my bag on my bed."

"Y-you can look at my side too Natsu" Sherria said quietly. Wendy cocked her head, not used to her best friend acting that way.

"Sure Sherria!" Natsu said as he put her bag down on her bed and looked around. Her wall was decorated similarly to Wendy's only with more posters. She also had less family photos as it seemed her family was much smaller than the Dragneels. "Looks good here too! No wonder you two get along so well, even your decorating senses are similar!"

"Th-thanks Natsu" Sherria said.

"Yeah" Wendy said with a small blush. Natsu looked back over her wall and noticed a picture he hadn't the first time. It was of a red-faced Wendy giving an equally red-faced Romeo a kiss on the cheek. He saw it and grinned mischievously.

"So Wends, how's Romeo?" Natsu asked 'innocently' without turning to face her. He glanced back and saw she was starting to put together what was happening. "He come down with a fever recently or somethin?"

Wendy immediately turned tomato red and started sputtering. Her parents had also entered the room by this time and began laughing heartily. Even Sherria was chuckling at Wendy's response.

"I-I thought you said no more teasing!" Wendy cried out.

"That was before I found this gem of a picture" Natsu said as he turned to face her with a devilish grin before it softened. "Are you two dating Wendy?"

"I-Well-I mean….yes" Wendy worked out eventually.

"Good" Natsu said softly. His response was barely heard though as Grandine rushed her daughter and held her tight.

"My baby's first boyfriend!" Grandine cried. Igneel, Sherria, and Natsu just laughed as Wendy tried to squirm out of her mom's grasp. Eventually Wendy was put down and she turned to Natsu.

"What do you mean 'good'?" Wendy asked.

"Just that. You two have liked each other for a long time. I'm glad you're together...as long as you're happy that is" Natsu said as his features slowly darkened.

"Yeah, I am" Wendy said as she looked at the picture.

"Good" Natsu said softly. "Now, before you two go crazy unpacking, let's go get somethin to eat!" Everyone laughed at the Natsu-like idea.

"I'll go invite the girls!" Grandine said excitedly. She and Igneel left, leaving the siblings and Sherria.

"I'll go make sure they don't scare your friends away" Natsu said with a wink before he walked out after his parents. Wendy giggled before turning to Sherria.

"Hey, Sherria" Wendy said hesitantly.

"Y-yeah" Sherria replied, already knowing what Wendy was going to ask.

"D-do you have a crush on my brother?" Wendy asked.

"I-I….maybe?" Sherria sighed. "I don't know. He's nice and good-looking, but I know you'd feel awkward if I pursued something with him. Plus I'm pretty sure some of the other girls in his life already have his attention."

Wendy sighed. This was exactly what she was afraid of when her family was joking around before Sherria came.

"I-I won't be mad. It's just weird" Wendy said."He's my brother and you're my best friend. But if something were to happen, I wouldn't be upset."

"Really?" Sherria said hopefully.

"Y-yeah" Wendy said awkwardly.

"Come on girls! Food waits for no one!" Natsu called in with resulted in laughter from their whole group.

"Coming!" Wendy called back. She and Sherria nodded to each other and made their way to the rest of the group. For the rest of the older Dragneels' time there, everyone joked around, made small talk, and had fun. Especially Natsu when their food finally came out. Araña was more than a little amused at Natsu's love for food, since it was her first time meeting him, and didn't bother to hide it.

On the ride home, Natsu rode with Grandine since she asked him to.

"So was all that talk about relationships meant to be for a certain someone in the room?" Grandine asked. She had a feeling it wasn't, but asked just to be sure.

"Huh? Oh you mean Sherria?" Natsu asked to which Grandine nodded. "No. I mean, she's pretty and all, but I already told Wendy I wouldn't date one of her friends. Besides… ah nevermind."

"No, tell me" Grandine said eagerly. "It almost sounds like you have someone on your mind!"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't" Natsu replied with a smirk.

"Oh? That's how you wanna play huh?" Grandine asked with a smirk of her own that made Natsu start to sweat. "Fine then. I'll just let slip to Mira and Mavis what I heard tonight. I'm _sure_ they'll be thrilled to hear it."

"That's not fair!" Natsu protested immediately. "I just want to get used to working again before I start to pursue someone! Is that so wrong?"

Grandine softened at that. It seemed like Natsu was still unsure of his progress with his injuries. "Okay, okay. I'm just interested is all. You haven't given much thought to a relationship in years, so it's a big deal to us."

"I guess" Natsu said as he looked out the window.

"Are you nervous?" Grandine asked.

"About dating? No" Natsu said.

"No, about going back to work" Grandine clarified.

"Oh….a little. It's not like the job will be killer and there will be barely anything to do besides emails and sitting at a desk" Natsu said.

"But…" Grandine prodded.

"But, well, I'm just nervous since Taylor hasn't told me I'm all better" Natsu said.

"Oh honey" Grandine said to how vulnerable Natsu sounded. "I don't know that you'll ever be 'cured' completely."

"I-I know. She told me that much. She said it never really goes away fully, but I can hope it will right?" Natsu asked.

"Of course sweetheart" Grandine said as she put her hand on his knee. For most of the ride it was quiet before Natsu spoke up again.

"I think it's time I move back to my apartment" Natsu said and Grandine grimaced. She knew it would be coming sometime this week, but that didn't mean she thought it would be so soon!

"Already?" Grandine asked, hoping he said no.

"Well, yeah" Natsu said, shattering her hopes. "The apartment's a couple of blocks from my new office so I could walk there instead of asking you or dad to drive me."

"We don't mind!" Grandine said quickly. "We know your ankle still hasn't been cleared enough to drive!"

"Mom~" Natsu whined. Grandine sighed at this. 'Curse my soft heart' she thought to herself.

"Okay, okay. Fine. We'll help you move, but not until next weekend, fair?" Grandine finished.

"Yeah, okay. That sounds fair" Natsu nodded. Internally he was jumping for joy, though. He was starting to miss the peace and quiet of living in his apartment by himself, even though he hadn't set foot in it for over two years.

The two were quiet for the rest of the ride home, which only lasted ten minutes. When they pulled in, Igneel was at the front door unlocking it.

"Bout time you two showed up!" Igneel called as they got out of the car. "I was gonna eat all of the cookies before you got home if you were any slower!"

"Over my dead body old man!" Natsu called back before attempting to race up the driveway to the front door before Grandine cleared her throat.

"No running Natsu" Grandine said.

"Aye sir!" Natsu said as he began to power walk towards the house. 'Loophole' was all Natsu thought as he heard his mom sigh in exasperation. Igneel just chuckled in response.

Natsu went right passed Igneel and into the house, 'probably heading straight for the cookies' Igneel mused to himself. He hung out at the door because he could tell something was off with his wife.

"What's up hun?" Igneel asked when she reached him.

"Natsu wants to move back into his apartment" Grandine sighed.

"O-oh" Igneel said. "I guess you weren't able to say no to him this time huh?"

"No, not with his place being close enough to work for him to be able to walk there" Grandine said grumpily.

"He wasn't gonna stay with us forever" Igneel said softly.

"I know….I'm just worried about him. He always pushes himself too hard. Way passed his limits and I don't want him to get hurt again" Grandine said as tears gathered in her eyes. "We almost lost him, and I…"

"I know baby, I know" Igneel said as he wrapped his wife in a hug. "But just yesterday you said yourself that he was makin great progress in p.t., so I'm sure it'll be okay. When does he want to go?"

"ASAP" Grandine said sadly. "But I got him to agree to another week here."

"That's good though, right?" Igneel asked and felt Grandine nod against his chest. "Gives him another week of treatments and getting stronger. I'll make sure to bring his weights home with me though, so he isn't tempted to use them."

"That would make me feel better" Grandine said against his chest.

"It'll be fine. And besides, it's not like he's in Crocus. He's just across town and we can visit him whenever we want. We do have a key to his place."

"Yeah I guess you're right" Grandine said and then pulled away from Igneel. "It won't be that big of a deal."

"There yah go!" Igneel said with a grin. 'You owe me one, boy' he thought to himself. "Now let's go inside before our vacuum of a son eats all of the sweets."

"He better not! Especially after making me all upset!" Grandine replied before hurrying into the house. Igneel laughed as he followed. When they arrived at the kitchen, they saw Natsu sitting at the table with a grimace on his face.

"Natsu? What's wrong?" Grandine asked.

"I didn't mean to upset you guys" Natsu said. "I just miss the apartment."

"Oh...we didn't mean it like that Natsu" Grandine said. "We're just….nervous."

"And it's upsetting you" Natsu said plainly.

"Kinda" Igneel admitted and shrugged when Grandine shot him a look. "But we're fine with you goin. We would feel better if I took the weights from you until Elfman clears you to use them."

Natsu chuckled sadly. "I guess. I just thought that since I've been doin better and Elfman is almost ready to start letting me do bodyweight workouts that you guys would be okay with me goin. I didn't want to cause any trouble for you guys."

"Natsu, you've been causing trouble for us your whole life" Grandine deadpanned. Both Igneel and Natsu chuckled at that. "But I do feel better that you decided to agree to wait a week before going."

"Yeah. I'll wait to hear what Elfman says about my progress before I actually move back to the apartment, how's that?" Natsu asked.

"That sounds great" Grandine said and then they heard the coffee pot ding.

"You made coffee? But you don't really like coffee" Igneel said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you guys took so long gettin in here I had to do somethin or else I would have eaten all of the cookies" Natsu chuckled. Grandine's eyes narrowed.

"How many did you have before you thought of that?" Grandine asked suspiciously.

"None! I swear!" Natsu said quickly. "I was waitin for you guys to come in behind me but you were takin too long so I made coffee and listened in on your conversation!"

"That's not much better, boy" Igneel said with a grin.

"I-Well-Yah see….yeah I know. But I didn't know what was takin so long, and then I wondered if somethin happened so I went to investigate and...yeah" Natsu said quickly.

"Alright, alright, calm down. I was just teasin yah" Igneel said.

"Now who wants cookies?" Grandine asked and immediately the family's attention went to the cookie jars -because it's the Dragneels- on the counter.

"I'll get the coffee and Natsu's milk poured" Grandine said teasingly to which Natsu pouted.

"Not _my_ fault milk and cookies is a classic" Natsu grumbled. "They just taste so good together." Both parents laughed at his grumbling.

"Well take a couple and enjoy" Igneel said as he grabbed his five. When Grandine made this batch she put her foot down and demanded they have no more than five in a sitting so that she could actually enjoy some of the cookies _she_ made. Natsu grabbed his and the two waited until Grandine set out the drinks, grabbed her five, and sat down before digging into his five.

The three talked for a bit about what to expect this week, and how they'd get Natsu to work on Monday even though both Igneel and Grandine had work at the same time. It eventually ended with Igneel dropping Natsu off way before his start time so he could make it on time to his own job, but only because his job was closer. With that out of the way, Natsu said goodnight and hobbled up the stairs. The day took more out of him than he realized until he started winding down. Natsu plopped down on his bed and was instantly asleep, Happy and Charle curling up on his back to indulge in the warmth he naturally expelled.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Took a bit longer to get out than I'd have liked, but we're redoing the bathroom at my parents' and I had to travel for work a few weeks ago so I haven't had as much time as I wanted to work on my stories. But now poll's up on relationships in the story! Vote for your favorite, or if you'd rather no relationship and leave it vague. And please review. It helps keep me focused and eager to work on the story when I can see you all enjoy it, if you do.**

 **See yah next chapter!**


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